Classical Christmas Listening Guide

Every year at this time certain seasonal favorites may be indicated for your listening pleasure. Recordings of these favorites are a-dime-a-dozen and often don’t do justice to the composer’s work. So here’s a little guidance to make the most of your holiday listening.

Messiah (HWV 56) - George Frideric Handel

Messiah was written in 1741 and first performed in Dublin in 1742 when Handel was 57. At the time Handel was considering a move back to his German homeland until friend and literary scholar Charles Jennens convinced him otherwise. Jennens had recently arranged a compliation of biblical scriptures that he proposed Handel use in an oratorio - Handel accepted and remained in London to work on the project. He is said to have completed the work in record time - twenty four days, while in his home at 25 Brook Street.

The scriptures arranged by Jennens encompass profound spiritual themes central to Christianity. Divided into three parts, the standard format for an oratorio, Messiah follows the life of Christ from the prophesy of his birth to the crucifiction and resurection. The words and music take us through the divine and spiritual battle of good vs. evil culminating in the triumph of virtue over sin and the redemption of humankind. With the resurection of Christ at its climax, Messiah had been a traditional Easter performance, but has since become associated more closely with Christmas.

Messiah was not written and cast in stone, in fact the work has evolved significantly over time, such that there is no truely definitive version that accurately reflects the original. Revisions and specific arragements began appearing even before Handel passed in 1759. The most famous arrangement came about in 1788 when Mozart was commissioned by Baron van Swieten to provide more modern versions of Handel’s oratorios including Messiah. Mozart made significant changes to the orchestration, phrasing, and instrumentation that are still performed to this day.

The Messiah recordings are numerous to say the least, and because of its evolution over the centuries there are many different versions. Recordings range from traditional authentic performances to more modern re-orchestrations that add more colour and possibly entertainment value (or some might say over exaggerated). Also the recordings of choral selections should not be forgotten, as many enjoy hearing the more popular exerpts, without sitting through the entire oratorio. Here are some recommended recordings of performances in these areas:

Authentic / Traditional

Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood Conductor
This is a truely traditional recording perhaps even scholarly, and is based on period instruments. If you are looking for an academic version and period sound this is your best bet. Thanks Marc.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with Sir Georg Solti, Conductor and Kiri Te Kawana, Soprano
This is a complete, and traditional recording performed in 1985. The work is would be most suitable for those interested in an authentic recording. Kiri Te Kawana provides a mostly supurb performance.

Transitional

London Symphony Orchestra, with Sir Colin Davis, Conductor
This performance was recorded in 1966, and could be considered a compromise between the traditional and modern performances with a bias to the traditional. It is a complete recording save for a single section of “He was despised”, and is recorded on modern instruments.

Modern

The Academy of St.Martin-in-the-Fields with Sir Neville Marriner, Conductor
This is a complete but modern recording performed with modern instruments. It is a very exciting perfomance with a noticeably upbeat tempo and a pleasing rhythmic flow all done very tastefully and not taken over the top.

The Nutcracker (Op. 71) / The Nutcracker Suite (Op. 71a) - Pyotr Ilytch Tchaikovsky

The Nutcracker ballet, composed in 1892 is an epic work in two acts based on the story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” by E.T.A. Hoffman. This work is often confused with the Nutcracker Suite which is actually a completely seperate score (arranged for three flutes, piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, bass clarinet, four horns, two bassoons, two trumpets, two trombones, bass trombone, english horn, tuba, cymbals, tambourine, tympani, harp, strings, glockenspiel, triangle, and celesta) that Tchaikovsky suprisingly completed before the ballet.

The Suite’s story revolves around the celesta, invented in 1886 by Auguste Mustel, and first observed by Tchaikovsky in Paris. The instrument so inspired him, he set out on a course to be the first to debut a composition in Russia with the celesta and its sound included. Unfortunately the ballad - The Voyevoda that Tchaikovsky had intended to be the work that would accomplish his goal turned out to be immensely disappointing and had to (quite literally) be burned before it could be perfomed in its entireity. This meant he needed another composition and Tchaikovsky worked to finish The Nutcracker Suite which was in its early stages at the time. This was actually the ideal composition though before the celesta Tchaikovsky couldn’t continue due to “the absolute impossibility of depicting the Sugarplum Fairy in music”, now however Mustel’s invention gave him reason to continue. And so it was that The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy became enormously popular (despite the ballets inital lacklustre success) and now is among of the world’s favorite seasonal music.

There is no shortage of “Nutcracker” recordings. The Suite tends to be more popular for the casual listener as it focuses on the familiar tunes. However, the complete ballet should not be overlooked as it contains much interesting music beyond the typical favorite tunes. The Suite are often grouped with other suites, especially the Swan Lake Suite or broken into excerpts and highlights which should be avoided. Here are my recommended “Nutcracker” recordings:

The Ballet

London Symphony Orchestra with Antal Dorati, conductor
This may be the definative “Nutcracker” recording despite the fact that it was recorded over fourty years ago, and on 35mm magnetic film. The orchestration is captivating, and Dorati handles the performers masterfully. This disc also includes Tchaikovsky’s Serande for Strings (Op. 48).

Kirov Orchestra and Choir with Valery Gergiev, conductor
For those who insist on digital recordings, this is an excellent recording providing supurb sound. Some might argue this to be the best “Nutcracker” recording, I tend to agree.

The Suite

Berlin Philharmoniker with Mstislav Rostropovich, conductor
This is a great CD that offers the three ballet suites together on one disc. On this recording Rostropovich himself a Russian seems to capture the spirit of Tchaikovsky to deliver what amounts to a magical experience. Including all three suites on the CD is a great combination, and you would be hard-pressed to do better when looking for The Nutcracker Suite.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 20th, 2005 at 21:07:43 and is filed under Listening Guides. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.