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Connections

Hosted By Stephen Peithman

Exploring the often surprising links between concepts, themes and people in classical music, from medieval to modern

Schedule

Saturday, 4 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Rebroadcast Sunday, 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.
on Music Station

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Saturday, December 24, 2022

The Nativity Connection

Adoration of the Shepherds, by Charles Le Brun (1689)

 

The Christmas story has been told and retold in music for hundreds of years —sometimes in its entirety, and sometimes focusing on one part of it.

But while they all follow the same story, each composer does it differently—from choral to orchestral, from simple to complex, from quiet to thunderous —sometimes in the same work.

In this hour, the Nativity in works by Bach, Handel, Liszt, Saint-Saens, Britten, Vaughan Williams, Menotti, and more.

FEATURED RECORDINGS

Title Group/Artist Catalog # UPC
Bach: Christmas Oratorio English Baroque Soloists. Monteverdi Choir; John Eliot Gardiner Archiv 423 232-2 028942323223
Saint-Saens Christmas Oratorio [for organ/orchestral Prelude] Hans-Joachim Bartsch; Bach Orchestra of Mainz, Dierhard Hellmann Calig CAL 50512 4011354505123
Vaughan Williams Collector’s edition [for Hodie: A Christmas Cantata] London Symphony Orchestra, Choristers of Westminster Abbey and Bach Choir, David Wilcocks EMI Classics 2066362 5099920663629
Christmas with the Robert Shaw Chorale [for Britten: Ceremony of Carols] Robert Shaw Chorale RCA DMC2-1217 [none]
Herzogenberg : Die Geburt Christ (The Birth of Christ) [for “Come You Shepherds”] Wurzburg’s Herzogenberg Orchestra and Ecumenical School Choir CPO 777 211-2 761203721122
Handel: Messiah Dunedin Consort and soloists, John Butt Linn Records CKD 285 691062028523 
Liszt: Christus [for “Pastorale and Annunciation,” from the Christmas Oratorio] Henriette Bonde-Hansen, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra and choir, Helmuth Rilling Brilliant Classics 99951 5028421999517 
The Play of Herod/The Play of Daniel [for Play of Herod opening processional] New York Pro Musica, Noah Greenberg, MCA Classics MCAD2-10102 [none]
Liszt: Christus [for “The Three Holy Kings” from the Christmas Oratorio] Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helmuth Rilling Brilliant Classics 99951 5028421999517
Menotti: Amahl and the Night Visitors  Hawkersmith, Gunlogson, Anthony, Thomas, Short; Nashville Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Alastair Willis Naxos 8.669019 730099901970
Berlioz, L’Enfance du Christ [for “The Shepherd’s Farewell”] Tenebrae Choir and London Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis LSO LSO0606 822231160625

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