Humperdinck: Abendsegen 'Abends will ich schlafen gehn' (Hänsel und Gretel) (Evening Prayer)

It is one of the oldest boys' choirs in the world, and even after now 500 years, the Vienna Boys' Choir is still a living tradition. This 2 CD set presents a selection of world famous Christmas songs alongside highlights from Handel’s Messiah.

Since the beginning of opera, the convention of the duet, in which two characters simultaneously express their feelings, has been one of the staple ploys of musical dramatists. Characters may join their voices in a unity of feeling, or in extreme disagreement, or in any one of the thousand shades in between; though in the examples we have here, all involving the combination of soprano and mezzo-soprano voices, the feelings expressed are held in common between the two singers.

This is an enchanting programme of orchestral and choral music of the Christmas season with beautiful performances by the children of the Aurelius Sängerknaben Calw. It is a blend of familiar and less well-known repertoire including pieces by Rheinberger, Nicolai, Bach, Homilius and Humperdinck.

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s Christmas Concert, which takes place every December with performances in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen, is for many one of the highlights of the festive season.

This disc is a sample of the very best of these concerts, from well-loved family favourites – Twelve Days of Christmas, Jingle Bells – to the unique lesser-known works that make this event so consistently popular, such as Christmas Alphabet and The Penguin Song (which includes dance moves in the CD Booklet and above…)

Elisabeth Grümmer became in 1946 a regular member of the Städtische Oper Berlin (now the Deutsche Oper), which was her primary professional association throughout her career, remaining with that major company through 1972. In April 1967 she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York as Elsa in Lohengrin. Elisabeth Grümmer’s exquisite voice and admirable dramatic gifts made her an exemplary interpreter of the music of Mozart and Richard Strauss. She restricted herself to a rather small repertoire she made very much her own: Pamina, Donna Anna, Ilia, the Countess Almaviva, Agathe, Hänsel, Oktavian, the Marschallin, Countess Madeleine, Eva, Elsa, Elisabeth, Gutrune, Freia and Desdemona.

This CD is the result of a charity “lullaby project”. It was initiated by the singer Cornelius Hauptmann, who was concerned that traditional lullabies were dying out. For many children, lullabies are their first intense contact with music and Hauptmann was able to persuade 52 of the best German singers whose first language is German to record one lullaby each, for no fee.