# In general, do you like or dislike Christmas music?



## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

Just curious about how classical music buffs feel about Christmas music.

In general, do you like or dislike Christmas music?


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

For me, I feel similarly to most Christmas music as I feel to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Row, Row, Row your Boat, etc. which is to say that it's fine but I've heard it all so many times that it doesn't do much for me anymore.

The last Christmas music I really enjoyed was when I played in the orchestra for a performance of Vaughan Williams Hodie.


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

Depends on the definition of Christmas music but I probably dislike at least 92% :devil:


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

I enjoy SOME Holiday music, mainly instrumental music like "Sleigh Ride" or instrumental arrangements for classical ensembles (i.e. Imani Winds playing wind quintet arrangements of holiday music). Plainchants that deal with Christmas text (sung in Latin) are also good.

I also like John Lennon's Happy Christmas War Is Over (not sure why but I do, maybe because it isn't sugary/sappy).


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Yes! I like Hutchinson's Carol Symphony, and some other carols. O Holy Night by Adams is atmospheric, especially with a good choir and arrangement. I heard a crazy Nutcracker and Beatles mashup today, and thought it was well done. Here are a couple of Christmas albums I have that I like


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I look forward to hearing the Christmas music each year. Then I look forward to it ending, which always occurs a few days after its cessation would be welcome.


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

There is something I like, the lovely Tim Minchin:


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

I rather like the doleful sound of a brass ensemble playing carols like _Once in Royal David's City_ or Holst's _In the Bleak Midwinter_. In fact I was doing this very thing on Friday and Saturday.


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

Phil loves classical said:


> I heard a crazy Nutcracker and Beatles mashup today, and thought it was well done.


Ah, that would be 'Beatlecracker Suite' by Arthur Wilkinson.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

'Christmas music' is a pretty broad subject. The stuff you hear in stores is mostly nauseating, but songs that are tastefully produced or works with orchestra and/or choir can be very moving.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

20centrfuge said:


> For me, I feel similarly to most Christmas music as I feel to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Row, Row, Row your Boat, etc. which is to say that it's fine but I've heard it all so many times that it doesn't do much for me anymore.
> 
> The last Christmas music I really enjoyed was when I played in the orchestra for a performance of Vaughan Williams Hodie.


I sang the tenor solo in that, but since it occurred forty years ago I've managed to enjoy a bit of Christmas music since!

Oddly, this year I haven't listened to any at all.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I love the Christmas period and the music, it's once a year, just go with the flow.


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## Boston Charlie (Dec 6, 2017)

I like almost any Christmas music of the classical genre from Handel's "Messiah" to Britten's "Ceremony of Carols". I usually find old German and English carols to be beautiful. Our American Christmas music is more of a mixed bag. Some of it is dreadful. Much else is nice if done right. For songs such as "Silver Bells", "The Drummer Boy", "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year", "Let it Snow" and so forth, the best way to go in my opinion, is with the old singers and musicians of yesteryear: Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Johnny Cash, Nat "King" Cole, Andy Williams, Liberace, Perry Como, Jim Nabors and so forth.

My favorite Christmas recordings from this side of the Atlantic are:

"Christmas Dream" sung by Perry Como (a unique Christmas song composed for the movie "The Odessa File" that features a German oomp-pa-pa beat featuring a boy choir that sings that last stanza in German)

"The First Noel" sung by Mario Lanza (the great American tenor sings with such emotion and power that he takes it to the point where you feel as if the singer is going to pop a blood vessel on the final high note)

"A Cradle in Bethlehem" sung by Nat "King" Cole (another lesser known and rarely recorded Christmas lullaby that King frames beautifully, soft yet masculine)


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## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

My daughter and I sang an inspiring rendition of "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. :tiphat:


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

With the caveat "in general," I sure do. And I'm really pumped that I made it all the way to Christmas without having to endure Christmas Shoes - not on the radio, not on the mall, not anywhere!


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

In general, I hate most of it with a passion.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I love boxing day as it called, lazy on the couch, playing you favourite CD'S and eating leftovers, what else can one want.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I love the over-the-top orchestral arrangements from the 50s and 60s that are so frowned upon today. Names largely unknown to many people: Andre Kostelanetz, Carmen Dragon, Morton Gould, Arthur Harris. The first three also were fine conductors, the last had his arrangements recorded with no less a maestro than Eugene Ormandy. Yes, it's tacky, gaudy, vulgar and all that. But wow, could these guys write for orchestra! The best pop Christmas album I've heard in a long time came from country/western singer Clay Walker several years ago - very tasteful, traditional, and with a well balanced program. Excellent orchestrations, too.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Oh yes, most of it. Of curse, there are some turkeys (not the edible sort) but generally it's nice to hear.


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

It's fun to play Rudolf or We 3 Kings on my harmonica. One is Ionian, the other Phrygian, so they are good workouts on the diatonic. Winter wonderland is fun on the sax.


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## david johnson (Jun 25, 2007)

I enjoy Christmas music  This year I listened to: 3 cd's of Ormandy/Philly, a Bernstein/NYPO disc, Anonymous 4 Medieval Christmas music from Hungary, London and Philadelphia brass...and the Lady Gaga classic - Light Me UP Put Me on Top falalalala...


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## Marinera (May 13, 2016)

I especially dislike Christmas carols. Loathe them. During the season they like sticky bon-bons glued to your pocket that you just have to endure until you could change the jacket. 
Also not overly fond of many choral Christmas works.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I hate some Christmas music but love much of it, so I voted yes, in general I like Christmas music. 

I like singing carols, but listening to them - it has to be a bit understated, not too schmaltzy.

I like quite a lot of music created for Christmas or generally played then - Handel's Messiah, Corelli's Christmas Concerto, wassail songs, folk carols, and even 'The Little Drummer Boy', because it reminds me of my childhood. 

But my profoundest sympathies to anyone trapped in a supermarket with 'Jingle Bells' following them brashly down the aisles.


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## pokeefe0001 (Jan 15, 2017)

There is obviously a lot of trash (including horribly arranged traditional carols) but there is also a lot of classical music that is heard only around Christmas. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, of course, Brelioz's L'enfance du Christ, Britten's A Ceremony of Carols, etc. But there are a whole lot of other things like Saint-Saëns' Oratorio de Noël, Bruch's Gruss an die heilige Nacht, Rimsky-Korsakov's Christmas Eve Orchestral Suite (or probably the whole opera - I haven't heard it). Of course there are also hundreds of terrific shorter motets, cantatas, and oratorios written for Christmas.

And some things not specifically for Christmas but heard around now, Delius's Winter Night (Sleigh Ride), W.A Mozart's Sleigh Ride from K 605, L. Mozart's Musical Sleigh Ride, etc.


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

Classical Christmas music is real Christmas music.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

I find the Chistmas period by far the most depressing period of the year. The horrible music you constantly hear in every genre plays a big part in that. But it's the same for television and most other media. For days you can hardly watch or listen to anything decent if you're not playing your own music (I don't stream). Christmas has become an event that has totally been taken over and defined by the mass media marketing and brainwashing machine to make it into a suffocating and claustrophobic experience that would make anybody with some taste and health of mind call the national alarm number (112 or 911) and ask for immediate action of the cultural health service :devil: or if they don't take up the phone call Kim Jong-un and ask him to put an end to our misery.:tiphat:


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

I like classical Christmas music.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Silent Night is a song that can be totally botched or can be incredibly moving depending on the production and the artist. Michael Crawford's rendition of Peace Peace Silent Night is IMO astounding. Peace Peace is first introduced by a young child and then MC sings Silent Night with Peace Peace sung by a children's choir as sort of a descant.


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

Silent night is unique in its role in Cmas music. It can at times feel cliche, but it does have the power to invoke peace and serenity.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Another standout. Wonderful melody and production:


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