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whitereflectionOkay, so I'm having huge, huge trouble concentrating. Holiday brain has set in, and all I can think of is how there's the slim chance we'll be allowed to leave early at noon. That would be so nice... But. Anyway. So I began to think of the music I've been really liking to listen to, Christmas/holiday-wise, and decided to put together a little list. So, in no particular order...:
1. The Vince Guaraldi Trio (a little info on Vince at http://www.vinceguaraldi.com/biography.htm) This, of course, is the group responsible for the Peanuts Christmas special soundtrack. I'm normally not one for jazz, but this stuff is groovy, smooth, and sentimenal-sweet. <3 This is the stuff of my childhood memories.
2. Mannheim Steamroller. This group is becoming quite the stuff of Christmas muzak, but it's still a favorite of mine. I remember when I first heard it when I was about 12 in junior high, and I started collecting pretty much all of their work, holiday or otherwise. I prefer the Christmas music they do that's more soft/emotional than the real synthy stuff--Auld Lang Syne and Los Peces En El Rio are probably my top favorites, though.
3. TransSiberian Orchestra. Yeaaaaaaaaaah... Christmas *rock*. I've seen them live (Mannheim, too), and that was something special. They do a nice mix of covers/remixes of classic tunes (including some incredible, incredible instrumentals--Oh Holy Night on electric guitar gives me *chills*), as well as some really cool original songs. Their work paints very vivid pictures in my mind, and if I could be troubled to write, there'd be a lot of songfics from their stuff. Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 and the Christmas Canon (the version from the latest CD) hit me the most, I think.
4. Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I don't really listen to them, except for their Christmas music. While I have a ton of carols I like, it's Christmas hymns I tend to gravitate to most--probably because of a Lutheran childhood. Doesn't matter if I don't believe now, that reminds me of a time when things seemed magical and beautiful and peaceful. I just wish I could hear them sing Silent Night in the original German--but I'll settle for the songs from Handel's Messiah they sing.
5. Handel's Messiah. Speaking of which.... Every year there's a group in town called the Voices of Omaha that puts together a free performance of this entire work--in which, as is traditional, the whole audience stands during the Hallelujah chorus. God, but that's awesome. I've only gotten to attend once, but it's spectacular. I have a thing for very large choruses/choirs. There's just such power in the human voice, especially in a work like this.
6. Radio Music. I suppose I could lump stuff all together here, just to save space. Whether it be the Chipmunks Christmas song ("I still want a huuuuuula hoooop~"), Happy Christmas/War is Over, The Hanukkah Song (first or second), Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas, and so on, I really do dig that stuff. Not 24/7 for two months, but occasionally. It brings out the fuzzy in me.
7. Burl Ives (http://www.burlives.com/Rudolph%20songlist.htm ) For Andrew, I have to mention him, because this is another iconic type of holiday music. The animated Christmas specials were as much a part of my childhood as the Peanuts one was. Silver and gold, silver and gold, indeed. : )
8. Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht (http://silentnight.web.za/history/index.htm ) Also known, of course, as Silent Night, this is probably the Christmas carol/hymn that is my all-time favorite. I pretty much like any version I've heard, though I do most appreciate the ones that give it that sense of...stillness, for lack of a better term. The sort that makes you think of the middle of the night, when it's pitch black save perhaps for some stars, and all you can hear is the faint sound of wind and the fall of snow. Where for, just a moment, all truly is peaceful and right. I prefer the song in its original German, which makes me feel just a little bit in touch with my heritage (I'm a quarter German, from great-grandparents who immigrated in the early 1900s). The only time I feel truly in touch with the spiritual and holy is when this song is sung at a church service near midnight on Christmas Eve--when they dim the lights, and everyone lights candles, and all you have is the yellow-dark glow of candleflame, and soft song. And then...yeah. Too bad the moment never lasts. Too bad they almost never sing even the first verse in German anywhere.
So there you go. I'm sure there's stuff I'm missing, but it's just a basic list of what I like this time of year, when I actually get in the spirit of things. Too bad I don't have a tree with tons of multicolored lights and bunches of glittering baubles on it--there's nothing like listening to Christmas music and turning off all lights save the tree, maybe having some real-spices potpourri simmering, and just sitting and feeling it all. Of course, having a layer of snow down on the ground helps some--but don't seem we'll get that at all, bummer.
Btw, not for Yankees fans at all, but the Merry Merry Merry Frickin' Christmas (World Champion Red Sox Anthem) by Frickin' A makes me go *hee* (http://www.frickina.com/lredxmas.html ).
1. The Vince Guaraldi Trio (a little info on Vince at http://www.vinceguaraldi.com/biography.htm) This, of course, is the group responsible for the Peanuts Christmas special soundtrack. I'm normally not one for jazz, but this stuff is groovy, smooth, and sentimenal-sweet. <3 This is the stuff of my childhood memories.
2. Mannheim Steamroller. This group is becoming quite the stuff of Christmas muzak, but it's still a favorite of mine. I remember when I first heard it when I was about 12 in junior high, and I started collecting pretty much all of their work, holiday or otherwise. I prefer the Christmas music they do that's more soft/emotional than the real synthy stuff--Auld Lang Syne and Los Peces En El Rio are probably my top favorites, though.
3. TransSiberian Orchestra. Yeaaaaaaaaaah... Christmas *rock*. I've seen them live (Mannheim, too), and that was something special. They do a nice mix of covers/remixes of classic tunes (including some incredible, incredible instrumentals--Oh Holy Night on electric guitar gives me *chills*), as well as some really cool original songs. Their work paints very vivid pictures in my mind, and if I could be troubled to write, there'd be a lot of songfics from their stuff. Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 and the Christmas Canon (the version from the latest CD) hit me the most, I think.
4. Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I don't really listen to them, except for their Christmas music. While I have a ton of carols I like, it's Christmas hymns I tend to gravitate to most--probably because of a Lutheran childhood. Doesn't matter if I don't believe now, that reminds me of a time when things seemed magical and beautiful and peaceful. I just wish I could hear them sing Silent Night in the original German--but I'll settle for the songs from Handel's Messiah they sing.
5. Handel's Messiah. Speaking of which.... Every year there's a group in town called the Voices of Omaha that puts together a free performance of this entire work--in which, as is traditional, the whole audience stands during the Hallelujah chorus. God, but that's awesome. I've only gotten to attend once, but it's spectacular. I have a thing for very large choruses/choirs. There's just such power in the human voice, especially in a work like this.
6. Radio Music. I suppose I could lump stuff all together here, just to save space. Whether it be the Chipmunks Christmas song ("I still want a huuuuuula hoooop~"), Happy Christmas/War is Over, The Hanukkah Song (first or second), Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas, and so on, I really do dig that stuff. Not 24/7 for two months, but occasionally. It brings out the fuzzy in me.
7. Burl Ives (http://www.burlives.com/Rudolph%20songlist.htm ) For Andrew, I have to mention him, because this is another iconic type of holiday music. The animated Christmas specials were as much a part of my childhood as the Peanuts one was. Silver and gold, silver and gold, indeed. : )
8. Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht (http://silentnight.web.za/history/index.htm ) Also known, of course, as Silent Night, this is probably the Christmas carol/hymn that is my all-time favorite. I pretty much like any version I've heard, though I do most appreciate the ones that give it that sense of...stillness, for lack of a better term. The sort that makes you think of the middle of the night, when it's pitch black save perhaps for some stars, and all you can hear is the faint sound of wind and the fall of snow. Where for, just a moment, all truly is peaceful and right. I prefer the song in its original German, which makes me feel just a little bit in touch with my heritage (I'm a quarter German, from great-grandparents who immigrated in the early 1900s). The only time I feel truly in touch with the spiritual and holy is when this song is sung at a church service near midnight on Christmas Eve--when they dim the lights, and everyone lights candles, and all you have is the yellow-dark glow of candleflame, and soft song. And then...yeah. Too bad the moment never lasts. Too bad they almost never sing even the first verse in German anywhere.
So there you go. I'm sure there's stuff I'm missing, but it's just a basic list of what I like this time of year, when I actually get in the spirit of things. Too bad I don't have a tree with tons of multicolored lights and bunches of glittering baubles on it--there's nothing like listening to Christmas music and turning off all lights save the tree, maybe having some real-spices potpourri simmering, and just sitting and feeling it all. Of course, having a layer of snow down on the ground helps some--but don't seem we'll get that at all, bummer.
Btw, not for Yankees fans at all, but the Merry Merry Merry Frickin' Christmas (World Champion Red Sox Anthem) by Frickin' A makes me go *hee* (http://www.frickina.com/lredxmas.html ).
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Date: 2004-12-23 05:41 pm (UTC)