Classical Christmas

Various (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Various
• Audio CD (September 30, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 5
• Label: LaserLight
• ASIN: B000001W1V
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #223,559 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. No. 2. March

2. No. 4. Dance

3. No. 5. Scene and The Grandfather Dance

4. No. 6. Scene

See all 10 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Sonata Natalis in C

2. And the glory of the Lord

3. And He shall purify

4. For unto us a Child is born

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Wachet Auf, Ruft Uns die Stimme, chorale prelude for trumpet & organ

2. Wie schön leuchtet uns der Morgenstern (I), chorale prelude for organ,

3. Jesus Christus, Gottes Sohn

4. Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, chorale prelude for organ (Schübler Ch

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. Tönet, ihr Pauken [From Cantata No. 214]

2. Sinfonia

3. In dulci jubilo, chorale setting for 4 voices, BWV 368 (BC F110)

4. Großer Herr, o starker König [From Christmas Oratorio]

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Disc: 5

1. In dulci iubilo

2. Pastorale per la notte di natale, for orchestra in A major

3. Sonata per chiesa et camera

4. Jubilate Domino (from Musae Sioniae)

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A joyful Christmas box of many rare musical jewels., December 9, 2001

By 

DJ Rix (NJ USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Classical Christmas (Audio CD)

Laserlight has the rights to so much recorded music - excellent, good, indifferent, bad - & of such varying sound quality, that it's difficult to rate the label's bargain compilations. Most are afflicted with "excerpt-itis," the "greatest hits" disease. However, some compiler with an interesting ear for the offbeat & a sense of humor put this fine five-CD Christmas box together. He or she did so by leaning on some less familiar music & by relying largely on good performances from ye olde East Germany ensembles & conductors, (as do Koch-Schwann & Berlin Classics labels, at higher prices).

The #1 disk is a solid performance of The Nutcracker Suite (also issued as a single disk by Laserlight) by Peter Wohlert conducting the Berlin Symphony (not to be confused with the Berlin Philharmonic). With that over-cooked chestnut out of the way, this compilation gets interesting.

We get some venerable excerpts of Bach cantatas, oratorios, motets & Lutheran hymns, performed by Fidicinia Capella, New Leipzig Bach Collegium Musicum, & the German Bach Soloists, all respectable ensembles. Edita Gruberova even joins in "Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen." Plus an earful of grand organ preludes.

Handel is represented by a happy section of "Water Music" & a piece for brass instruments from his oratorio, "Judas Maccabaeus." What, no "Halleluah Chorus?" Believe me, you don't need it! But it's here all the same.

Mozart checks in with the lovely, too brief, "Ave verum Corpus," motet for chorus, strings, & organ, K. 618. We also get snappy, dutiful baroque contributions from Vivaldi, Corelli & Purcell.

The remainder of the set is filled out with music from: Pavel Josef Vejvanovsky; Francesco Onofrio Manfredini; Johann Ludwig Krebs; George Friedrich Kauffmann; John the Elder Alcock; Michel Corrette; Michael Praetorius; Johann David Heinichen; Johann Heinrich Schmelzer; & Giuseppe Torelli. The inclusion of these marvelous obscurities pushes this bargain compilation over the top.

I give it four stars because the performances & sound quality vary considerably. But the compensation comes from hours of joyously felt Nativity music, a good deal of it unfamiliar yet beautiful all the same. Load all five into the CD changer, hit the random button, relax & enjoy your spiced eggnog with family & friends.

The five CDs are titled: 1. The Nutcracker 2. Classical Christmas 3. Christmas Music for Trumpet & Organ 4. Johann Sebastian Bach - Christmas Music 5. Baroque Christmas Music. They can be purchased individually.