Reading · A Hopeful Diversion

This page did not load. You can still read it on the original site — the toolbar below keeps your place in the directory.

It’s Christmas Eve, and if you have any time or capacity left in this sacred occasion, here are my top five musical selections, with a little bonus:

#5 - Silent Night (Kathleen Battle and Christopher Parkening): No Christmas Eve is complete without a contemplative chorus singing this premier classic.

#4 - In the Bleak Midwinter (Choir of Kings College, Cambridge): Masterful, timeless Rosetti lyrics and acoustic beauty that call each of us to “give Him my heart.”

#3 - O Come, O Come Emmanuel (Vocal Majority): The longing, soulful Advent cry that briefly bursts into exultation: “Rejoice!” The soul’s (and world’s) ransom is come.

#2 - Hark, the Herald Angels Sing (Concordia College Choir and Orchestra): Where else is Christmas theology more compactly, eloquently and triumphantly proclaimed?

#1 - O Holy Night (Hillsdale College Choir): Because I still haven’t found the perfect version (see below), I stick with the tradition of my alma mater’s sacred a cappella.

-OR-

#1 - Cantique de Noel (Andrea Bocelli): The Francophones among us also must appreciate the original text.