Christmastide Wonder…

Merry Christmas to you all! It is a joy to be able to nestle into my burrow here in this Pensacola winter and reflect on which selections of my favorite Christmas music to share with you. Over the years, I have encountered seasonal music that miraculously combines the qualities of joy, beauty, peacefulness, and celebration simultaneously. These are some highlights that come to mind…

Simon and Garfunkel- “Star Carol”:
https://youtu.be/OTrp5QmjO5s?si=fj2IzBjA0ANKqwUl

This tender little folk carol as performed by the duo Simon and Garfunkel was one of the first recorded Christmas songs I ever remember hearing as a very young child… Its innocent beauty has stayed with me ever since!

Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel - The Gift:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA7SPe9JExqip7gsw5XyeQbiRbzcNbIO9&si=OflBGiZyzRYhGRGH

While old enough to be a classic, this album is a new friend to me! Its timeless use of acoustic guitar and woodwind instrumentation and gentle contemporary freedom in interpreting both well and lesser-known Christmas selections has captured my heart and secured a place as one of my favorites, soothing my soul and moving me to joyful tears at turns! The Gift is an elegant musical ornament for any home and a delightful treat for the inner child (especially when the chimes and ocarina appear!).

Loreena McKennitt- A Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season

Even though Loreena has since released a full-length album including these same songs, these five tracks from the original EP remain the best tracks on said album. The contemplative “Snow” embodies the transcendent solitude that only winter can bring (https://youtu.be/bjkC0WjyyU4?si=lUNoJI77bHnbQt1q), and “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” evokes in equal measures the feeling of a Dickens’ era street Carol through beautiful straight-tone strings and lively street celebrations on the way to the Bethlehem stable through Middle Eastern textures on woodwind, violin, and percussion (https://youtu.be/Lexf0N-Xa3Y?si=RdWl5_oiDPDZ1K14).

Angels of Venice- “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” from Sanctus:
https://youtu.be/XaqhT8QgjyM?si=pmGIQxgL7C8LRpSe

The Middle-Eastern vibes continue with this soothing, moody arrangement of “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” (which, you can perhaps tell, is one of my favorite carols!). Carol Tatum and her musical associates with Angels of Venice are masterful in creating atmosphere, originally through harp, flute, and keyboard primarily but with more varied textures in later albums.

Diane Arkenstone (Enaid and Einalem) - “Coventry Carol”:
https://youtu.be/VSmV5wDn67s?si=_SOGXwfxfiwb5ksP

While Celtic Christmas is a product of its time in many respects, it remains a reliable portal to another realm in my imagination, having always been more of a “fantasy” album to me than a Celtic album as such! Several of the arrangements have affected me deeply over the years, inspiring and transporting me while writing or reading stories. My favorite by far is “Coventry Carol,” which still makes me think of merriment in the Great Hall of a medieval castle… or Redwall Abbey! Wait for the third movement; it has a very different and very lively character! However, my well-represented “God Rest Ye…” is also a close second: https://youtu.be/MTdDbn2nams?si=5-1u833GFj-zyFMg

Barbara Higbie- “The Simple Birth” and Øystein Sevåg- “My Heart is Always Moving (Mitt Hjerte Alltid Vanker)” from A Winter’s Solstice V:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mvGDnG_IleOrN1XcWJWSJhmbY9gf6MWps&si=MJB1hbcDmZ-2rBLq

The variety and beauty of this album has delighted me for many years, and all the tracks have a distinctive flavor, like varied pieces of chocolate in an advent calendar. However, Barbara Higbie seems to have a gift for creating a sonic space that makes the inner child feel welcome, as I feel Christmas music should! “The Simple Birth” is both lush and evocative with layers of atmospheric vocals, a guitar ostinato, and moving harp and violin solos. The beautiful austerity of “My Heart is Always Moving” with violin and organ recorded in a sacred space inspired my own arrangement for mountain dulcimer!

David Lanz - Christmas Eve: 
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lusXRWteHOEsC4NpcyNwDZzbW_cc4nzDI&si=9zBmn2ni14cqt_Ip

Like Tingstad and Rumbel’s The Gift, David Lanz’ Chrismas Eve is a recording that will soon bring one into a peaceful, contemplative space, and entering such a space, I feel, is an important balance to the festivities of this time of year. Interlaced with familiar carols are original interludes by Lanz, each inspired by a vision of a unique angelic being. The subtlety and reverence with which these arrangements are so bounteously laden make this one of my most cherished Christmas albums; “Angels We Have Heard On High,” the title track, exemplifies this perfectly with its defiance of expectation in chord choices, all of which serve to transform the familiar and make it new.

The Snowman Soundtrack by Howard Blake:
https://youtu.be/nx6vmIz-zzU?si=SKKBx2RZARAyOSB6

I have known and loved the song “Walking in the Air” for many years, but only recently did I discover the original cartoon and the entire soundtrack for The Snowman composed by Howard Blake. This bittersweet tale reminds one that treasured times with loved ones are forever real, even if they may be fleeting. The classic narration brings the same story to life as in the film and the original book by Raymond Briggs (both of which tell the story only with pictures, with the exception of “Walking in the Air”).

“Evacuating London” and “Lucy Meets Mr. Tumnus” from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Soundtrack by Harry Gregson-Williams:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYpfRnqdGk5ygdzMkOwqdPule-6lYGt-W&si=_pN1BjGbZ6rcHo8G

The music of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is among the most successful I have ever heard at capturing the essence of winter. “Evacuating London” evokes the childen’s “winter” of spirit as they are forced to leave their home and evacuate to the country during the Blitz, before any of them ever see the snows of Narnia. A haunting piano solo, romantic strings, and longing vocals are almost a plea for escape into another world. However, “ Lucy Meets Mr. Tumnus,” which occurs in the heart of Narnian winter, hints at the beginning of a thaw with its tender violin (or viola) solo, chimes, kantele, and woodwinds… When Lucy meets the faun Tumnus, he declares, “You’ve made me feel warmer than I've felt in a hundred years.” These songs are full of wintry innocence and wonder, winter that finally welcomes Yuletide with the advent of Aslan himself.