Handel: Messiah: He shall feed His flock

The fourth volume in “The Flagstad Recitals” comprises two LPs Kirsten Flagstad made with the London Philharmonic and Sir Adrian Boult in December 1956 (Bach and Handel: CD2) and April 1957 (Sacred Songs: CD1) at London’s Kingsway Hall. The Penguin Guide to bargain Compact Discs praised the ‘sacred pops’ CD for the ‘vivid projection’ of Flagstad’s voice and singled out the ‘great majesty and weight’ of her voice. As with the sacred songs, the Bach and Handel items have a devotional aura of their own and this anthology is also unique for the first stereo publication of Bach’s aria ‘Sheep may safely graze’ and the first-ever publication of ‘Art thou troubled’ from Handel’s Rodelinda.

Some of the songs featured on ‘Great Sacred Songs’ made their way onto a 45rpm EP which was entitled “Songs for Sunday” – from which derives the title of this compilation. Flagstad’s own religious beliefs remain unexpressed in The Flagstad Manuscript – there are no pronouncements about morality per se or about the immortality of the soul. How she lived her life speaks for itself, however, and so do the performances on this CD: songs not just for Sunday for but every day.

This is a Christmas CD with a difference – Christmas on the high seas! The Welte Philharmonie music rolls used here were recorded during the great epoch of the giant ocean liners and are performed on the Welte Philharmonie organ in the Museum of Music Automatons, Seewen, Switzerland. They cover many different styles, from traditional songs to pastoral pieces.

15 years after EMI released Barbara Hendricks Sings Christmas, this album remains one of the bestsellers of the Swedish soprano, with more than 450,000 copies sold all over the world.

Barbara Hendricks is back this year presenting a completely new Christmas album focused on sacred music, Shout for Joy (the title of a famous Christmas Negro spiritual). With her we travel from Germany to England, from France to the United States, with a collection of famous carols showing that the Christmas tradition is universal. Either with a large baroque orchestra or accompanied by organ, string quartet, lyra or guitar and bass, we will find with happiness some of the most famous of the season’s songs as well as a beautiful selection of well-known Christmas spirituals. Full of colour, this wonderful selection of sacred carols, Shout for Joy, is a delightful musical companion which will be at your side for the whole of Christmastide.

“I always look forward to preparing for Christmas time with my family. I try to keep the emphasis on the blessing of being together and reflecting on the meaning of ‘peace on earth and goodwill toward all humankind’. For me, Christmas represents the birth of Christ, but also time to meet with the family and special moments to meditate on the main themes of the life of Christ, notably on tolerance and solidarity. This is why I want to sing Christmas, not only my Christmas, but also that of others, traditional Christmases from all over the world, letting the music create bridges between all human beings.” (Barbara Hendricks)

Described by Choir & Organ as ‘a tremendous choir, with superb technique and an immense, expressive range’, Orphei Drängar give proof of its versatility in a highly varied programme which still manages to stay within the theme of Christmas: original settings and new arrangements of Swedish folk songs and Christmas classics, English carols and Broadway songs – with Stille Nacht, a Russian hymn in praise of the Holy Virgin and Eric Whitacre’s widely admired Lux aurumque.

The wind quintet Passion de Cuivres was formed in 2003 and has already been praised by Nikolaus Harnoncourt for its authentic use of period instruments in reviving this 200-year-old tradition of performing chamber music written for brass ensembles. In general, the music-making of Passion des Cuivres is marked by lighter timbres than those produced by modern instruments.The sound spectrum of the present CD is further extended by the soprano Constanze Backes and by the bells of St Andrew's Church, Sonning near Reading, which have been cast over a period of three centuries, their sounds guaranteeing an atmospheric beginning and end to this musical journey.

In addition to traditional carols by William Sandys (1792-1874), Lewis Henry Redner (1830-1908) and Lowell Mason (1792-1872), justice is done to the high standards of amateur groups in the 19th century by including arrangements of Baroque and Romantic choral numbers by composers as diverse as Purcell, Handel and Mendelssohn. In addition to cornets, horns and trombones, the listener will even hear an ophicleide, a kind of bass horn that was a forerunner of the euphonium.

These spirited and frequently refreshingly witty arrangements of popular and - at least outside the UK - less well-known pieces of music are designed, therefore, to warm the cockles of hearts depressed by the thought of Christmas.

Three centuries of holiday favourites sung in five languages. Includes the world premiere recording of John Corigliano and William Hoffman's Christmas at the Cloisters. Live recording.

The Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad is considered to be one of the greatest Wagnerian singers of all time. This 10-CD set features recordings from the beginning of her international career in 1935 through to a few years before her death in 1962.

In addition to her celebrated performances of the music of Wagner, she was also capable of delicate feeling in the interpretation of works by Handel, Gluck, Purcell, Weber and Beethoven, and music by these composers, together with a series of Grieg songs, are included in the collection. Finally, no survey of her art would be complete without her famous recording of Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs from 1950.