Category: Music

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Candlelight

[audio:http://thirdworldcounty.us/audio/John_Rutter_Candlelight_Carol.mp3]

(Once again, semi-sincere *heh* apology for the rough embedding; you’ll need a media player plugin to view/listen)

Deleted the video I’d embedded and converted it to an mp3. Wait for it. There’s an almost 8-second lag before it starts that I didn’t edit out.

Slightly “less good” musically (the first performance is helped by having the composer conduct *heh* For one thing, Rutter just happened to get the tempos right ;-)), but an cleaner embedding of a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eME_gxZRDxo

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Angels

I like John Rutter’s music. There. I’ve admitted it. 😉 (Apologies for the sloppy embedding, but the YouTube uploader of the piece disabled embedding the YT video and I’m too lazy to put a lot of effort into embedding it slickly. The music’s the same, in any case.)

Oh, heck, here’s a version from Slovenia while I’m at it:

And another performance by a younger choir than either of the two above (and, really, better despite a few pitch problems–more forgivable in such a young group–and their director? For the cognoscenti, two words: Elizabeth Green *heh*):

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Coal

Here’s some “coal” to put in the stockings of really, really (REALLY) bad boys and girls. WARNING: This thing will make you want to poke your own ears out! It’s worse than even rap “music”…

[audio:NoHolyNight.mp3]

*spit-gag-hurl*

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Bells

Update: Do NOT miss the post featuring this piece over at Violins and Starships! Not only does the post feature a very, very nice instrumental arrangement/recording of the piece, it includes links to various lyrics for the carol and to a performance of “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen”, by Loreena McKennitt that is a DO NOT MISS. Thanks Lynn!

Update II: As the lyrics page Lynn lins to points out, the carol isn’t originally about bells. Here’s a Ukrainian version featuring–the notes say–the Ukrainian lyrics about a swallow visiting a farmer and his family during the Christmas season.

The rise and fall of the melody does rather lend itself to a musical depiction of the flight of a swallow, doesn’t it?

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Gloria

The music starts about 0:49. I didn’t download and edit out the first 48 seconds’ antics and general screwing around and then re-upload it simply because I’m lazy.

As long as you’re here and have listened to this, go ahead and click over to Violins and Starships’ Just Beautiful. It is.

OK, here’s the audio file of the video above w/o a lot of the goofing of at the beginning:

[audio: True_Acapella.mp3]