We share highlights from winter concerts and new holiday releases every year on PT. Join us today for a wide range of seasonal music, and hear the trio Revien play gorgeous versions of the Coventry Carol and Vince Guaraldi's Christmas Time is Here.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Richard Willis: It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
Leontyne Price, soprano | Vienna Philharmonic | Herbert von Karajan, conductor
Album: Leontyne Price: Christmas Songs
London/Decca 421103
Damien Escobar & Darren Jenkins: 25 Days of Christmas
Damien Escobar, violin | Darren Jenkins, keyboard | Evan Rainey, bass | Derick Mcelveen, drums | Kristine Kruta & Molly Fletcher, strings | Quennel Gaskin, organ | Gil Defay, horns
Album: 25 Days of Christmas
Phoenix Lane Entertainment
Mykola Leontovich: Carol of the Bells
Black Violin: Kevin Marcus Sylvester & Wilner Baptiste violins
Album: Give Thanks
Di-Versatile Music Group
Traditional, Vince Guaraldi, arr. Brian Smith: Coventry Carol, Christmas Time is Here
Revien
University of Georgia Performing Arts Center, Hugh Hodgson Hall, Athens, GA
Eric Whitacre: little tree
Elora Festival Singers | Noel Edison, conductor
Album: Eric Whitacre Choral Music
Naxos 559677
John Henry Hopkins Jr.: We Three Kings of Orient Are
Leontyne Price, soprano | Vienna Philharmonic | Herbert von Karajan, conductor
Album: Leontyne Price: Christmas Songs
London/Decca 421103
Piano Puzzler
Contestant: Colleen Stadnick from Katy, TX
Randall Thompson: Alleluia (Live)
The Morehouse College Glee Club | Dr. David Morrow, conductor
Album: IMC Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses Inc. 2012 National Seminar: The Morehouse College Glee Club (Live)
Soundwaves Recording
Via Olatunji: Betelehemu (Live)
The Morehouse College Glee Club | Dr. David Morrow, conductor
Album: IMC Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses Inc. 2012 National Seminar: The Morehouse College Glee Club (Live)
Soundwaves Recording
Traditional, arr. Kevin Marcus Sylvester & Wilner Baptiste: Noel
Black Violin: Kevin Marcus Sylvester & Wilner Baptiste violins
Album: Give Thanks
Di-Versatile Music Group
Felix Bernard, arr. Joey Sellers: Winter Wonderland
Doug Tornquist, tuba | The Hollywood Tuba 12 | Jim Self, conductor
Los Angeles Tuba Christmas, Hall of Liberty, Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, CA
Felix Mendelssohn: Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
Canadian Brass
Album: Christmas Time Is Here
Steinway & Sons 30027
Hour 2
Adhamhnán & Uinseann Mac Domhnaill: Cro na Nollag (The Christmas Stable)
Kiri O'Neill, soprano | Emily Doyle, soprano | The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin | Desmond Earley, conductor
Album: Be All Merry
Signum 643
Traditional English, arr. John Hoybye: God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin | Desmond Earley, conductor
Album: Be All Merry
Signum 643
Gabriel Faure, arr. Christina Courtin: Requiem: Pie Jesu
Anthony Roth Costanzo, countertenor | The Knights | Eric Jacobsen, conductor
Album: THE KNIGHTS BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Bright Shiny Things 159
Gustav Holst, arr. Michael P. Atkinson: In the Bleak Midwinter
The Knights | Eric Jacobsen, conductor
Album: THE KNIGHTS BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Bright Shiny Things 159
Rebecca Dale: Winter
Voces8
Album: Winter
London/Decca 25736
Traditional, arr. Snorri Sigfús Birgisson: Lo! How a Rose E'er Blooming / Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen
Ane Brun, vocals
Album: Winter Tales
DG 28948615049
Johann Sebastian Bach: Christmas Oratorio: Sinfonia
Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra | Michael Davis, conductor
Album: Festival of Carols
Naxos 579065
Johann Sebastian Bach, arr. Joep Beving: Sinfonia (After Bach, BWV 248)
Joep Beving, electronics
Album: Winter Tales
DG 28948615049
Eoghan Desmond: Be All Merry
Katherine Hunka, violin | The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin | Irish Chamber Orchestra | Desmond Earley, conductor
Album: Be All Merry
Signum 643
Andrej Makor: O Magnum Mysterium
Eleanor Coleman, soprano | Maximilian O'Neill, tenor | The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin | Desmond Earley, conductor
Album: Be All Merry
Signum 643
Howard Blake, arr. Ronn McFarlane: Walking in the Air
Ronn McFarlane, lute
Album: Imagine Christmas
Sono Luminus DSL-92216
Elaine Agnew: Curoo Curoo
The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin | Irish Chamber Orchestra | Desmond Earley, conductor
Album: Be All Merry
Signum 643
Linda Kachelmeier: We Toast the Days
Ciaran O'Donovan, tenor | Ivan O'Neill, baritone | The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin | Desmond Earley, conductor
Album: Be All Merry
Signum 643
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