Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Advent Soundtrack: Tracks 1 and 2

Hey, how about this for a little holiday fun on the blog? I'll post a favorite Christmas carol every day until we finally reach Christmas Day!

I just had the idea this afternoon, so this first musical installment has two carols.

1. "Once in Royal David's City."
It's a beautiful song, and when it's done well by a lone choirboy at the beginning who is then joined by a full choir, it is absolutely sublime. Trivia for you: it is always the first song in the annual Christmas service featuring the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. Given that, I think I'll kick off the Advent Soundtrack with a little video:



2. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen."
Aside from being a lovely song, it also makes an amusing cameo appearance in Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol"! The version I give you is by Loreena McKennitt, who performs it in her usual medieval-ish, New Age-ish, world music-ish sort of way with the occasionally odd but always interesting use of musical instruments.

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