Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without festive music and this 10-CD offering is headed by a very distinguished list of artists – Herbert von Karajan, the Choir of St. Thomas’ Church, Leipzig, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Benjamin Britten, Leontyne Price, Joan Sutherland, Sir Adrian Boult, and many others.
At this time of fellowship works such as Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio”, Handel’s “Messiah”, Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols”, Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker” as well as traditional Christmas carols ranging from “O Tannenbaum” to “Silent Night” are always welcome guests.
5 original albums including complete recordings from the years 1952-1961 are augmented with bonus tracks of indispensable Christmas fare such as Corelli’s Concerto fatto per la note di natale (the “Christmas Concerto”), excerpts from the Christmas part of Bach’s “Little organ book”, Britten’s “A Boy was born” and festive trumpet music by Haydn.
