Saturday, December 01, 2007

Law and Gospel invited me out to play, so here's a bit of almost-Advent relaxation:
Your three favorite Christmas foods?

Not my area of speciality. But my grandmother made a plum pudding with a (soft) hard sauce that was to die for. I can't actually cook anything beyond a grilled cheese sandwich, but I wonder if my brother has that recipe stashed somewhere . . . and I wonder how much damage I could do . . . .

One of my friends often brings Clementines dipped in dark chocolate to our Christmas dinner. Fabulous.

OK, that's two.

Three Christma secrets?

I don't think I have any of those.

Three favorite pices of Christmas music?

NOW we're talking.

There Shall a Star Come Out of Jacob

It took me awhile to find a place for listening to this one, and the results are not entirely satisfactory. Think organ of many pipes and huge choir.

Sing We Noel.

The processional to the Christmas Vespers Concert in which everyone in my boarding school participated every year. The words appear on this program, but I have never been able to find a recording online. Think same as above: organ music and choir of 700 filling candlelit chapel in New England.

Have You Seen a Child? A quarter from Amahl and the Night Visitors featuring Amahl's mother and the Three Kings. There are a few versions on youtube, but I wasted an hour last night trying to figuire out "embed." Go out and get the CD -- the entire operetta is only an hour long.

And one more (since I blew the first two questions): a favorite in our church:


(I apologize for being able to find only a version with that kind of breathless-contemporary-music approach.)(Can you tell that I'm already beoming just a tad bit edgy about what passes for seasonal music on the radio?)

And, by the way, Law and Gospel has some very nice music indeed on her blog.


3 comments:

Law+Gospel said...

Great play and thanks for sharing. Clementines with chocolate- sounds yummy! Wonderful music choices. I have added my other favorites. BTW the Sonific widget supports an entire collection of Benedictine chant- you may want to check out their site. Blessings as you study- I am trying to condense the entire theology of the O/T in time for my final.

Anonymous said...

I love Christmas music and have what I thought was a wide variety in my collection but these three songs are a mystery to me.

We sang one of my favorites in church today "People Look East". This is really more of an Advent song than a Christmas song but it started the season of preparation off in a lovely way. "Make your house as fair as you're able, Trim the hearth, and set the table." I put together an Advent wreath and decorated the front door and windows today. The 6" of snow we got last night helped to put me in the mood.

I also love the Paul Winter Solstice recordings from The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NY. A local woman made some beautiful harpsichord recordings of English carols which are an oasis of calm in this crazy time of year.

My goal for Advent this year is to not be impatient. Day One went fairly well but I also sent out invitations for a very large Solstice Party so maintaining this tranquil state will be a challenge.

Diane M. Roth said...

great! wonderful music! I can't figure out how to link to the music yet. How can we stop at three, too???