Enjoy new music with our classical music chart for this week. This selection of holiday albums is based on sales numbers and simply what Christmas albums we love and think you NEED to hear.
For the complete top 20, tune into Classical Chartz with the New Classical FM’s Mark Wigmore every Saturday from 3-5 p.m.
Tafelmusik’s 2012 two-CD recording of Handel’s Messiah sits at the top of the list. The release features Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Tafelmusik Chamber Choir directed by Ivars Taurins, with soloists Karina Gauvin, soprano, Robin Blaze, countertenor, Rufus Müller, tenor, and Brett Polegato, baritone. The live performance on period instruments was recorded December 2011 at Toronto’s Koerner Hall. The annual performances of Handel’s masterwork have become a city-wide favourite, and the 2011 version captures a definitive performance of the Baroque ensemble during the Jeanne Lamon era.
The Berlin Phil and their recording of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker comes in at No. 2. The 2010 release features Simon Rattle, who notably claimed earlier in his career that Tchaikovsky’s music eluded him. He’d obviously reconsidered by 2010, when he recorded what many consider to be the definitive release of the iconic ballet score. Of the album, Rattle said, “Some of the tunes are so famous that you even forget that someone had to write them: what could be more perfect than the pas de deux after the Waltz of the Flowers, which is just a G major scale? We fell in love with this music, rehearsing and performing it, and we think it is magic.”
In The Spirit — Sacred Music for Christmas by The Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Jessye Norman takes up the No. 3 spot on the Christmas Chartz. The legendary soprano recorded the album in 1996 at the height of her vocal powers, and the tracks include a mix of seasonal carols like The First Nowell and It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, sprinkled with a few classical tracks, such as Ave Maria and medieval Latin Christmas hymn Pure Natus in Bethlehem. Along with Norman and The Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the album features organist Harry Huff, harpist Sara Cutler, St. Thomas Men and Boy’s Choir of New York, Choristers of St. Barnabas of Connecticut, American Boychoir, and Riverside Church Choir New York, with David Robertson conducting. On Norman’s death in September 2019, Clive Gillinson, Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall, where Norman sat on the board, noted, “She had the ability to make the world stop”. Her rendition of Christmas music still resonates with fans and music lovers nearly three decades after its release.
Christmas Carols at King’s, featuring the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra comes in at No. 4. Released in 2022 on the Decca label, the album features several historical recordings of the celebrated choir with brand new string arrangements courtesy of the Royal Phil. The original choir selections were recorded at King’s College chapel between 1958 and 1984 based on the choir’s annual Christmas broadcasts, led by directors Sir David Willcocks and Sir Stephen Cleobury and feature conductors Sir Andrew Davis, Simon Preston CBE and David Briggs. Willcocks also created many of the new string arrangements, with additional orchestral arrangements by James Morgan (conductor of the RPO), Juliette Pochin, and Harold Darke’s arrangement of The Bleak Midwinter for choir and strings.
Next up, at No 5, is the soundtrack to the original Home Alone movie. Iconic film composer John Williams is responsible for the score of the 1990 film, performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony (other than White Christmas, by The Drifters, Please Come Home For Christmas, by Southside Johnny Lyon, and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, by Mel Torme). The album was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score, while the signature track Somewhere In My Memory was nominated both for the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media. Somewhere In My Memory features lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, and it can be heard in several segments as well as full length versions, throughout the film. Today, it is often performed as a solo work during holiday concerts.
Josh Groban’s Noël comes in at No. 6. Noël was Groban’s fourth studio album, and was released in October 2007. It was a massive hit for the American singer and songwriter, and sold nearly 3.7 copies in 2007 alone, making it the best selling album of the year. It went on to sell nearly another million copies in 2008, becoming the best selling holiday album that year. Canadian David Foster created orchestrations for the classical crossover album, which includes 13 tracks of largely traditional Christmas carols along with Thankful, written by Foster and Groban, along with Alan Silvestri, Brian Byrne, and Richard Page. In 2017, after being certified Sextuple Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, (meaning six million in sales in the US), a deluxe 10th anniversary album was issued with seven previously unreleased bonus tracks.
The Glorious Sound of Christmas by conductor Eugene Ormandy sits at the No. 7 spot. The vintage 1962 recording also features the Philadelphia Orchestra and Temple University Concert choir in 14 tracks and two CDs. Robert Page directs the choir on the album that consists entirely of traditional carols and Christmas hymns. The release was certified Gold in 1963, and still sells copies to this day — a tribute to its timeless holiday charms. The orchestra continues to play an annual Christmas concert in the spirit of the album. Then Philadelphia Orchestra violinist Herb Light recalled it in a radio interview. “I remember when we did the recording. I was overwhelmed by the lush sound of these Christmas carols,” he said. The album was recorded at the old Town Hall at Broad and Race streets in Philadelphia — now the site of a parking garage. A second The Glorious Sound of Christmas album was released by the Orchestra in 2015 with conductor Bramwell Tovey and the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia.
Noël by Angele Dubeau & La Pietà, No. 8 on the list, was released in 2010. The album features 20 tracks of classical music such as Vivaldi’s Concerto “Per Il Santissimo Natale” R. V. 270, and traditional favourites like Gruber’s Silent Night. The Christmas spirit is explored through various time periods and cultures, from Italy, France, Germany, Finland, Mexico, the United States, and Russia. The resulting album on the Analekta label has a timeless quality that celebrates the season through the artistry of Dubeau and her chamber string ensemble.
This Is Christmas by Katherine Jenkins takes up the No 9 spot. Jenkins, a Welsh mezzo, is known for a repertoire that spans opera, pop songs, musical theatre, and sacred music. It was also the ninth studio album for the classical crossover vocalist, and was released in October 2012. The album, true to the crossover spirit, includes traditional carols along with numbers like Santa Baby and Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire. The album, produced by David Foster, and recorded with the Philharmonia Orchestra, was certified as Gold in the UK.
Sleigh Ride And Other Holiday Favourites by the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Slatkin, rounds out the list at No 10. The album features the work and arrangements of American composer Leroy Anderson, and was released in 2008. Slatkin, along with Leroy’s son Kurt Anderson, were responsible for putting the album together, and it features 16 tracks that include, naturally, Anderson’s Sleigh Ride, Song of the Bells, The Waltzing Cat, and others, along with suites and medleys of carols arranged for woodwinds, brass choir, and string orchestra, among other orchestrations.
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