Monthly Playlist: December 2023
If you are like me, you must be getting pretty tired of the same Christmas songs being repeated in the streets, shops, cars, and everywhere else. Well, there’s actually lot of Christmas themed music you may never have heard! We put together a playlist that will definitely sound different from what you’ve been hearing the last weeks, but for sure carry the warmth of the holiday spirit.
Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season!
1.Tchaikovsky // Dance of the Mirlitons from The Nutcracker
A classic fairytale ballet in which a girl’s favorite toy, The Nutcracker, comes to life on Christmas Eve. A mirliton is both a small sweet French cake and a musical instrument similar to a small flute.
2. Gustav Holst // In The Bleak Midwinter
A hard winter, like our trials in life – pain, illness, suffering – do not last forever.
3. Vivaldi // Winter from The Four Seasons
“To spend restful, happy days at the fireside
while the rain drenches a hundred people outside.”
4. Benjamin Britten // Balulalow from A Ceremony of Carols
Written during his sea voyage back to his homeland England, after three years of exile in the US during the first years of WW2.
5. Prokofiev // Waltz on Ice from Winter Bonfire
A story of a group of children from Moscow on an outing in the snow. Written for orchestra, choir, and narrator.
6. Liszt // Scherzoso from Christmas Tree
Dedicated to his granddaughter Daniela on their family trip to Rome, and first performed in her hotel room. Subtitle for the piece reads: Lighting the Candles on the Tree.
7. Berlioz // from L’enfance du Christ
Revisiting his childhood memory of listening to beautiful religious music.
8. Tchaikovsky // Russian Dance from The Nutcracker Suite
Tchakovsky’s take on a fiery, animated dance with Ukrainian roots.
9. Janáček // Lord Jesus Christ Is Born from 6 Miniatures
Based on a Czech Christmas carol.
10. Respighi // The Adoration of the Magi from Trittico Botticelliano
Capturing the sacred and secular worlds in Botticelli’s painting through an Italian Christmas song.
11. Glazunov // The Winter from The Seasons
An abstract ballet with characters named Snow, Frost, Ice, Hail, and a couple of gnomes.
12. Edvard Grieg // March of the Trolls from Lyric Pieces
Inspired by the Nordic folklore the composer grew up with.
13. J.S. Bach // from the Christmas Oratorio
Written for services to celebrate Christmas, adapting materials from his older works.
14. Rimsky-Korsakov // Polonaise from Christmas Eve Suite
A fantastical opera in which a blacksmith persuades the devil to help him win his love by bringing her the Empress’s shoes. The polonaise marks the Empress’s majestic entrance.