Christmas Music Gifts from Top English Cathedral and Chapel Choirs

Everyone's all time favorite Christmas Carols are included in this London/Decca collection sung by one of England's greatest choirs. The London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Davis, accompanies and the choir's wonderful boy sopranos give the sound a particular brilliance. As a gift or as a favorite part of your own holiday music collection, this one is a winner.

This is a (mostly) live recording of a famous Christmas Eve service at King's College Chapel, Cambridge. The BBC has been broadcasting the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols for more than 80 years and people all over the world have listened to it on the BBC World Service.

The music includes lots of familiar and favorite carols as well interesting harmonic arrangements by Ralph Vaughan Williams and contemporary works by Thomas Adès, Judith Weir, and John Tavener.

The two-CD album also includes the entire service with 11 spoken sections - the lessons movingly read by members of the congregation and even the sermon. This may put some people off but it is bound to be popular with the Anglophiles on your holiday list.

Stephen Darlington conducts the Christ Church Cathedral Choir in a performance of 15 selections from 20th century English composers Gustav Holst and William Walton, recorded at Merton College Chapel, Oxford. The acoustics of the medieval chapel, the modern harmonies and the traditional blend of the voices give this recording a lovely, timeless quality.

This is a good, solid collection of familiar and lesser known Christmas works by Handel, Berlioz, Bach and Mendelssohn, among others, performed by the Westminster Abbey choir, one of England's finest. There are several selections from Handel's "Messiah" as well as such popular classic carols as God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen; The Shepherd's Carol, O Little Town Of Bethlehem, It Came Upon The Midnight Clear, Shepherd's Farewell From L'Enfance Du Christ, Good King Wenceslas, We Wish You A Merry Christmas. The 21 selections are a nice mix of thoughtful, lively and downright merry music.

Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire was begun in the reign of William the conqueror. Considered, by many, to be one of England's most beautiful cathedrals it has a soaring, narrow nave which the Ely Cathedral Choir fills with a very special, soaring sound. Here, the ensemble has recording sixteen, mostly traditional, carols while introducing a few, less familiar works by the likes of John Taverner. Some lovely favorites include O, Little Town of Bethlehen; Silent Night, Away in a Manger, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Lesser known works like Noel Nouvelet, The Carol of the Foal and the Carol of King C'nut are welcome discoveries.

Anthony Crossland conducts the Wells Cathedral Choir and Richard Seal leads the Salisbury Cathedral Choir in 18 selections that compliment each other in their contrasting styles. The Wells choir performs (mostly) traditional English carols, many of which may be unfamiliar to American listeners - Once in Royal David's City, The Holly and the Ivy, The Coventry Carol. The choir's boy soprano choristers are almost ethereal. The Salisbury Choir performs mostly 20th century Christmas music arranged with subtle complexity. The choir's performance of the American carol, I Wonder as I Wander, is haunting.

It takes a magnificent choir to fill Northern Europe's largest gothic cathedral with such beautiful sound. Francis Jackson conducts the Choir of York Minster and the Minster Organ in a collection of 21 familiar favorites that are so well done you'll want to head for York to hear the Minster choir sing yourself.

Donald Hunt conducts the Worcester Cathedral Choir in a very interesting, international, multi-lingual collection. Traditional English carols are enriched with folk songs and traditional music from France, Spain, Catalonia. This collection would make a nice gift for someone who likes music that is different and authentic - but enjoys a few old favorites as well.

This is the encyclopaedia of Christmas music. Produced on the Priory label, it includes four discs and 72 works - traditional, modern, folk, classical - with more than four and a half hours of play. The choirs of four different cathedrals, Durham, York, Norwich and Southwark, perform with soloists Keith Wright, John Scott Whiteley, Stephen Layton and Neil Taylor. A great present for someone just setting up home or building a family music collection for the first time.