Our Choices

The BBC Music Magazine team’s current favourites

Jeremy Pound Acting editor Our main news story this month (see p12) reminds me of heading up to St John’s College, Cambridge on a cold day in 2011 to sit in on a recording session for the choir’s On Christmas Night CD. Over a decade on, it’s still a favourite, not least due to conductor Andrew Nethsingha’s well thought-out programme – among the less well known carols are James Burton’s gorgeous Balulalow, which gives the choir’s superb lower voices their deserved moment in the spotlight. The more familiar works include Darke’s In The Bleak Midwinter, featuring Julian Gregory – now of King’s Singers fame – as the tenor soloist.

Alice Pearson Cover CD editor

If you need a quieter moment during the season, head for Saint-saëns’s Christmas Oratorio. It’s typically French and lyrical, with some beautiful solo interludes for Saint-saëns’s own instrument, the organ. To set the scene, the piece received its first performance, probably at Midnight Mass, in the elegant church of La Madeleine in Paris – just picture it. I can recommend the recording by Cantus Stuttgart with the Stuttgart Bach Choir and Orchestra under Jorg Hanneshahn (on the Cantate label), particularly in the company of some candles and a glass of red.

Freya Parr

Digital editor and staff writer Since my choir disbanded during the pandemic, I’m approaching another Christmas with no carol concert. Listening to choral music was making me feel a little sorry for myself, so I’ve turned to the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s 1965 studio recording of A Charlie Brown Christmas to get into the festive spirit. It’s utterly joyful, with a fabulous groove which makes me want to don a cocktail dress and invite the neighbours around for a Buck’s Fizz.

Michael Beek Reviews editor

Last year, I really missed going to St Mary Redcliffe in Bristol for its annual Carols by Candlelight evening. So you’ll find me there this year front and centre in the crowd, singing loudly and trying not to drip hot wax on my hand or set the carol sheet alight. I may also pop along to the cinema to see André Rieu’s new Christmas show, but don’t tell anyone, as it’s a guilty pleasure – one that’s too hard to resist.