APO Christmas Concert Graduate Choir Photo: ©Adrian Malloch
What music puts you in a festive mood? If Mariah Carey and George Michael's Christmas pop tunes have a negative impact on your personal goodwill to all, then we have good news. RNZ Concert's resident music experts - musicians, presenters, producers, sound engineers and sound mixers among them - share their favourite classical, contemporary and jazz pieces to restore your Christmas spirit.
Clarissa Dunn, Presenter, Music Alive
'O Holy Night' / 'Cantique de Noël'
This will be my first Christmas without my dad. Whenever I hear or sing 'O Holy Night', I think of him singing it and living for those top notes. Even though it's over 150 years old, this song is still so passionate and alive - familiar territory for the composer Adolphe Adam who wrote mostly opera and ballet music. I love to hear a fearless tenor singing this song, and 1950s star, Mario Lanza (who dad loved) throws his whole being at it in a universe-expanding, joyous way.
'El cant dels ocells' / 'The Song of the Birds'
At Christmas time, I like to play music that helps me to catch my breath and reflect on the year that's been. This Catalan Christmas song seems to stop time. It was made famous by cellist Pablo Casals. After his exile in 1939, Casals would begin each of his concerts by playing this song. For this reason, it is often considered a symbol of Catalonia. There are many beautiful versions of 'Song of the Birds', but this haunting one features Casals and the Prades Festival Orchestra. It's soulful and it feels like Casals is speaking through his cello. The music is full of wonder and mystery. The words of the song describe the joy of different northern hemisphere birds, from the imperial eagle to magpie, after hearing the news of Jesus' birth.
David McCaw, Live Music Producer, RNZ Concert
'Tomorrow Shall be my Dancing Day' (arranged by John Gardner)
I first heard this about 25 years ago while recording a CD with the Wellington Cathedral of St Pauls. It's bright and joyous with a wonderful dance quality and as a lapsed organist, I like the organ writing.
Nick Tipping, Presenter, RNZ Concert Days and Inside Out
'A Charlie Brown Christmas' (1965) by the Vince Guaraldi Trio
This is the sound of Christmas for generations of Americans and the quintessential jazz Christmas album.
Although he had quite a productive career, Vince Guaraldi is still mainly known for providing the music for various animated Peanuts specials including 1965's A Charlie Brown Christmas. This is the album that always goes on in my house in the leadup to Christmas (and sometimes on the day). Pure nostalgia.
'The Christmas Song' (1945) by Nat King Cole
In the Christmas of 2002, I found myself in Beverley Hills, Los Angeles, playing at a Christmas party at the home of actor/singer/boxer Tony Danza. He decided he wanted to sing something to his assembled guests, who included Don Rickles, Barbara Sinatra, and David Foster. We scrambled around until we landed on this tune, a classic written by Mel Torme. It was a very surreal experience.
'O Holy Night' (2000) by The Gaither Vocal Band
My brothers and I share the same sense of humour. For some reason, when we were on a road trip in Europe one Christmas years ago, one of us put this track on the car stereo, and we ended up listening to it on repeat. Every Christmas since, one of us will send it to the others as a kind of "remember that time" gag. It's the most over-the-top, heavily arranged and produced version I've ever heard, of what is actually one of my favourite Christmas songs, and I don't think it'll ever be surpassed. Each verse and chorus cranks up the drama, and it's worth listening all the way to the the edge-of-your seat ending.
'Northern Lights' by Ola Gjeilo
Not a Christmas song per se but written at Christmas time by the Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo, about the "terrible, powerful beauty" of the northern lights. It's a gorgeous piece which has a deep inner peace about it, and always helps me find a space to breathe in the middle of the Christmas rush.
'In the Bleak Midwinter' by Gustav Holst
There are two great versions of this classic Christmas carol, by Harold Darke and Gustav Holst. I grew up singing in church choirs and I always hoped Gustav Holst's version would be programmed for one of the Christmas services I got to sing in. It's so many things at the same time - warm and cold, soft and hard, noble and reassuring.
David Morriss, Presenter of Evenings on RNZ Concert
'Christmas Concerto' by Francesco Manfredini
I love this piece - wonderful sweeping strings. The Berlin Philharmonic in this kind of music is TOTALLY unfashionable, and I'm not normally a fan of conductor Herbert von Karajan, so it ticks all the nonconformity boxes for me!
Robyn Jaquiery, Producer, Three to Seven; Presenter/Producer, Hymns on Sunday)
'Silent Night' ('Pō marie') - Graduate Choir/Terence Maskell (Gruber, Franz arr Maskell)
One great thing about working at RNZ Concert is the excellent music library, and I remember peeling off the cellophane cover on this CD when it came in with the latest batch of new releases. The Graduate Choir is a mixed-voice choir, founded in 2001 originally for school leavers from Aorere College in South Auckland who had 'graduated' from high school and who wanted to continue singing under the direction of Terence Maskell. Over two decades later, the choir is still going strong, many alumni continue to sing and some now have wonderful careers as professional opera singers, such as brothers Pene and Amitai Pati. You can hear a young Pene singing a solo on another track of the Sing in Exultation album.
If the Christmas rush is getting a bit overwhelming, have a listen to this RNZ recording of The Graduate Choir singing Silent Night (Pō marie). It's from the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's annual Celebrate Christmas concert at Holy Trinity Cathedral in 2019. The Choir sings this carol at the end of every Celebrate Christmas concert, with the singers spread out throughout the cathedral. I guarantee you'll feel calmer by the end.
Adrian Hollay, RNZ Sound Engineer
'Sleigh Ride', by Prokofiev
I don't have any Christmas favourites, but Prokofiev's Sleigh Ride is very cute.
Andrew Clark, Presenter on Mornings, RNZ Concert
'White Christmas' (by Irving Berlin)
'White Christmas', sung by Bing Crosby in the film Holiday Inn, won the Oscar for best original song at the 15th Academy Awards. I've chosen a version of this song by Australian jazz singer Frances Madden. While living in Australia it was always a joke listening to this song given the impossibility of getting a white Christmas in Sydney. I found Frances performing this version (see below) on Facebook and I got in touch, realising that she was recording in the 2MBS Fine Music Sydney studio where I was a presenter. I played it around Christmas on the breakfast show to give people who were also from the northern hemisphere, like me, a bit of Christmas cheer to remind them of winter, Santa's sleigh, building snowmen on the occasional white Christmas and pelting your brothers or sisters with snowballs.
Lauren Jack, Casual Presenter, RNZ Concert
'O Come All Ye Faithful'
I love this, especially the Pentatonix version! A little cheesy, but that's what Christmas is all about. I love how joyful and energetic it is, and I have lovely memories of dancing to this with my flatmate and best friend during the holiday periods when I was away from my own family, so I turned to my friends.
'A Christmas Jig / Mouth of the Tobique Reel' by Yo Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma's Christmas Jig is another upbeat dancing tune. I love this whole album, songs of comfort and hope - perfect for Christmas time. I love the energy and joy Yo Yo Ma brings to all his music, and I think this sums it up perfectly.
JR (John Roberts), senior sound mixer
'The Yellow of the Flowers'
We celebrate Christmas during summer - there will be many flowers, some of them yellow. One day I was having a bad day and not feeling my best. I always have our stations on the monitors, so RNZ Concert is always with me. Then the presenter played 'The Yellow of the Flowers' by The Rheingans Sisters. It gave me a massive lift, reminding me of the good feelings I remember from my childhood at Christmas time. This isn't strictly a Christmas song, but for me it generates the same effect.