First, my inner Anglican has to apologize—technically this final track is not a Christmas song but an Epiphany song. However, I’ve attempted to appease my Anglican spirit by pushing this to the very end of my series, looking forward to Epiphany as we say goodbye to Christmas. Many of you are probably unfamiliar with this hymn, but you’re no doubt quite familiar with another carol written by the same author, William Chatterton Dix (1837-1898). It was he who gave us the classic “What Child... Read more

It’s the penultimate day of our series, and I have saved the best for near-last! “O Holy Night” is quite possibly my favorite Christmas carol, but it’s hard to do it justice. On the one hand, it really needs the no-holds-barred, all stops pulled out treatment. On the other hand, singers with the technical  chops to get it done vocally are tempted to lapse into mere vocal showboating (paging Mariah Carey, Mariah Carey). In my opinion, David Phelps’s version walks... Read more

Mannheim Steamroller’s last entry in this series was their rockin’ “Good King Wenceslas.” But Mannheim Steamroller can do much more than just rock out. This closer from their debut album is far and away their best mellow cut. The background “oooohs” are clear and unpretentious behind the haunting opening bars on piano. Then around 2:00 is where the arrangement really transcends, at the entry of the violin. The rest is pure magic, with dry ice at the end to remind... Read more

Happy New Year Everybody! We are starting to wrap up (har-har) our Twelve Essential Tracks of Christmas, with yet a third men’s acappella entry. Clearly I am partial to men’s acappella singing! However, the styles of acappella have definitely not been the same. Day 1 was pop acappella in the tradition of the Nylons, Day 7 was classical acappella, and today I’m featuring jazz acappella. And when it comes to jazz acappella, critical consensus seems to be that all other... Read more

Minus the cloying lyrics, the melody of “Sleigh Ride” is allowed to soar free and take on a life of its own in this definitive arrangement by Arthur Fiedler. While the pitch-perfection of the studio track may be the absolute best take, I also love to watch the orchestra at work in this clip. John Williams conducting doesn’t hurt either! Enjoy. Oh yes, and Happy New Year! Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops’ “Sleigh Ride” Read more

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming. For this selection, I was torn between two stirring acappella performances of the Michael Praetorious arrangement for this German carol. One is by an authentic Austrian quartet called Schnittpunktvokal: The other is by the British quartet The King’s Singers. The startling purity of of David Hurley’s counter-tenor instantly leapt out and caught my attention in this version: I couldn’t decide. So, naturally, I consulted Terry Franklin. Meanwhile, knowing that the German text... Read more

Note: I’ve noticed views are down for this series, possibly because it’s Christmas but possibly because readers might understandably feel like all they need is to find the song for themselves somewhere else. However, I’m going to be providing commentary and extra tidbits on some of these tracks, so pay attention! In particular, I’ll tease you with a promise of some performance analysis by Terry Franklin. On which day? You’ll have to wait and see. When I first discovered that... Read more