Classical Convert

Hymnus Christmas Non-music Extravaganza

It’s Christmas time. There’s a currently a lack of mistletoe and/or wine.For the last six year –, basically since I stopped spending the immediate fortnight before Christmas at my parents house — the 25th has pounced out of the end of December like a mugger. There isn’t any build-up. It’s work, work, work, BANG xmas, at gunpoint, all up in your face demanding your wallet.

In the holiday seasons of my youth there were trees and Christmas music and fires and stuff. Now I am old and bitter, and the beautiful virgin snowfall is just another incovenience to take into account for the seven hour drive on Christmas eve. My gosh this sounds Grinchy and tragic when written down!

Well TBH I’m being just a tad melodramatic. We really are doing holidayish stuff, it’s just crammed into the week right before (hence starting RIGHT NOW). In fact, I started considering all this lost scent of pine while munching on a holiday gingerbread pig that G just churned out of the piggery (oven) in our kitchen. I even added a little bit of Christmassy MP3ing to the room. Sort of. Since we don’t have a Douglas fir or tinsel out it’s probably not a huge surprise that I don’t have gigabytes of xmas music, either.

I do have this, though:

The last piece of which is the Hymnis Amoris for male and female choirs and soloists. It’s all about love and stuff, which I suppose is kinda appropriate for the “peace and goodwill to all mankind etc.” crowd.  I remember having that CD on repeat in my car last winter. Even driving around with the windshield icing up became cosy and comforting. It’s a good one. It has to be the choirs which make it so instantly Christmassy.

Although not every piece with choirs has the same effect….

Any other examples of terrifyingly anti-xmas choral music ?