Essential Carols: The Very Best Of King's College Choir, Cambridge (2005)

A compilation of recordings originally released 1959-1965 under the direction of David Willcocks.

The men and boys of King's College Choir provide a welcome respite from the holiday music I hear on the radio. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Santa, Rudolph, Frosty, and the gang, but these songs are the more reflective, traditional, sacred stuff of quiet nights, a warm fireplace, a well-lit Christmas tree, and maybe some hot chocolate, fruitcake, or mincemeat pie. (Here in San Antonio this year, the forecast is predicting a high of 77° on Christmas Eve, so maybe no fire and hot chocolate.)

The sound quality isn't great, but it's better than you would expect from analog mono recordings made in the mid-twentieth century. The main draw to me is the inclusion of many old carols that I love but very rarely hear. This music brings me back to the stories of the birth of Jesus as found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. And, as one reviewer over at Amazon writes, "Mince pies were definitely better after I played the music." Yum.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

The aforementioned carols that I rarely hear include such tracks as Ding Dong Merrily On High, Gabriel's Message, Once In Royal David's City, Personent Hodie, and the Coventry Carol. It ends with the gorgeous Vaughan Williams piece, Fantasia On Christmas Carols. There's also plenty of carols here that I don't recall hearing other than other than this album so it's sending me down a rabbit hole of what are considered to be "traditional carols" in the UK.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None with these particular discs, but hearing this kind of music from 4 voice choir (most songs a capella, a few with accompaniment) takes me back to my early days. As a preacher's kid, I spent a lot of time at the church each December with potluck suppers, choir rehearsals, staff parties, cantatas, children's pageants, living nativities, and, of course, Advent and Christmas Eve services. These traditional carols were ever-present. Church members often gifted us food, dropping by the manse with baked goods, candy, and other treats. I distinctly remember our formal dining room table being covered with such dishes. Divinity was a very popular homemade confection at the time and we got plenty of it. And, yes, I get the joke - let's give divinity to the preacher. Haha.