Christianity Astray, to whom I seldom link, has an article on new Christmas music.
Do you know any music new from last year or this year? Mini-reviews?
And when you recommend an album, please give us an idea of the style.
Share!
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
23 comments:
I must put in a plug for my friend Christian Ebner's great album released last year. He's got a Buble-esque sound, great voice, incredible musicianship.
And none other than John MacArthur reading the Luke 2 scripture on the Charlie Brown Christmas song.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/a-christian-ebner-christmas/id337147210
word verification: honqui
Never been called that by the computer before.
I don't know from Buble. (First thought was you'd misspelled "Bible.")
So is this somnolent enervating elevator-music such as would only be popular with Shady Camper Rest Home and Justin Taylor?
Or is there some life and crackle to it?
Nathan Clark George just released a new Christmas album, due in the mail any day now. His last one is my favorite Christmas record.
Dan, I work for the guy :)
For Bilbo? Bobble... whatever, the Canadian guy?
No, Christian Ebner. He's the worship leader at Kindred Community Church, where I direct choir. He's a great singer, still sings with Bobby Caldwell sometimes, which is a fine gig, if you can get it.
It's on the mellow side of things, but there are some great musical moments.
http://www.amazon.com/Karolju-Christmas-Music-Lutoslawski-Rodrigo/dp/B000W1V4AC
Thank me later.
David, I am a HUGE Buble fan (as is another wonderful lady who hangs around here) so I will definitely check him out! Someone recommended Caleb Collins to me last year and I downloaded some good stuff from his album:
http://www.amazon.com/Christmas/dp/B001I477EY/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291221788&sr=301-1
Don't know if any of you care for Annie Lennox, but she has a pretty good collection of real Christmas songs on this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Cornucopia-Annie-Lennox/dp/B0043A0PXU/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1291221728&sr=1-1
I especially like that she usess Christian songs from other cultures
Haunting, beautiful and powerful all at once:
http://www.amazon.com/Salvation-Created-Christmas-Record-Bifrost/dp/B002PAD2NA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1291222163&sr=8-3
I really like The Priests, who have a new Christmas album called Noel (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0041HSODI/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER).
I have a picky 8-yr-old that likes classical music, so I am hoping she'll like this one. Sounds good from the snippets I could get from the sample.
The linked article wasn't very helpful - a bunch of people I had never heard of (save one, Phil Keaggy), compared to others who were equally unfamiliar to me.
Forget the new stuff - I'll stick to traditional Christmas music. My recommendation: Handel's Messiah is a good place to start ;)
Messiah is only partly Christmas. The first part. The rest is Easter, essentially. The most famous parts from from the latter 3rds. Except "For unto us a child is born."
Good for year-round listening.
Verf. word: bloging
it's missing a 'g' :P
I'm old school too, but I absolutely adore Celtic Women and especially "O Come O Ye Faithful". Sigh, even I may have such a voice in heaven. Another thing to have hope for. Christmas concert is on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eLDvM7eSq0
Anyone have a favorite tenor version of "O Holy Night"? Not to show my gender bias or anything, but I love a clear tenor. :)
@Sir Brass:
Actually, the first two parts of "Messiah" would be associated with Advent/Christmas, whereas the third part is associated with Easter. Still nice to listen to the whole thing to get the context - I would argue that Christmas would be meaningless without Easter.
@Sonja:
Try Jussi Björling
Wordsmith, my mistake about the parts.
But yes, without the Cross, the Incarnation would have been meaningless.
And without the Incarnation, the Crucifixion would have been meaningless.
That is, if those who push the whacked-out, blasphemous teaching that Jesus didn't become the Son of God until the Spirit of God embodied Him in the Jordan, or push something else denying the nature of Christ's Incarnation, are RIGHT, then the Crucifixion means diddly. It would've just been a man who had been a vehicle for the Spirit of God suffering on a Roman gibbet.
Christ had to ENTER His own Creation as fully man and fully God both to fulfill the Law's demands to propitiate the wrath of God.
And I love Messiah. Either in the epic, sweeping (yet not historically accurate to how it was intended) rendition by Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Choir, or in Gariner directing his chamber orchestra and chamber choir (performing it as it had been intended). Both are wonderful.
With that, I leave you all with this (directed to this originally by the Alpha & Omega Ministries blog):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU&feature=player_embedded
King's College Choir "Oh Come All Ye Faithful."
Great choral vocals and the pipe organ vibrates the floor.
http://www.amazon.com/Come-All-Ye-Faithful/product-reviews/B000004CVK/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_5?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addFiveStar
I gasped in horror to discover that you neither know from Buble nor honor his unparalleled wonderfulness.
Then I remembered - you're a guy. ;)
And providentially, Justin just posted a link to two of the songs on the BiFrost album MSC mentioned. They're definitely thought provoking. Not so sure about the life and crackle thought.
I actually prefer the more contemplative music. Helps innoculate against the horrible earworms associated with hearing impossible-to-avoid snippets of Mariah Carey in the mall. ((shudder))
Sir Brass, I already had that up as a Monday Music.
Tsk.
Here is an interesting list of Christmas tunes, courtesy of Fred Sanders at the Scriptorium.
I just ordered a cd that seems like it will be really nice. I am partial to Scottish, Irish, or classical music around Christmas and am looking forward to A Scottish Christmas which should get here any day. I also have The Chieftians, Bells of Dublin, which I look forward to listening to around Christmas. I know it did not come out recently, but it deserves a plug.
Here is the link to a Scottish Christmas, violin and bagpipes included!
http://www.amazon.com/A-Scottish-Christmas/dp/B00130PP6K/ref=dm_cd_album_lnk?ie=UTF8&qid=1291347588&sr=1-1
I feel a little odd..silly...unsure.. about giving you this suggestion, but I'm really enjoying the album Christmas With A Capital C (Snow: The Deluxe Edition) from a group called Go Fish. I discovered them through a friend in my MOPs group at church last year, and only knew them as a kids' music group. However, the Christmas album isn't necessarily only for kids. I guess their style is pop/rock?? - but overtly Christian. I'm not too good at defining styles. It's definitely not old school, but I am very much enjoying it, anyway. Their new version of "Mary Did You Know" is very good.
You can hear clips of the music on their website if you're interested. http://www.gofishguys.com/cms/
Dan, if this isn't your style or whatever, I won't be offended if my comment gets lots in moderation. :-)
Post a Comment