From cantatas to carols - the best classical Christmas albums of 2019

The Guardian 0

From small-scale Bach and Renaissance Spain to a poignant Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, there is festive uplift for all

• On average nearly two dozen new Christmas-related CDs arrive each year. Is there any reason to add one to a collection? They fall into clear groups: major works, mainstream carols and themed compilations. Two accounts of Bach’s Magnificat are highly recommended: one from the lean, sprightly forces of Solomon’s Knot – Magnificat: Christmas in Leipzig (Sony) – coupled with unfamiliar works by two other Leipzig composers, Johann Schelle and Johann Kuhnau; the other from the meatier but still nimble French ensemble La Chapelle Harmonique, directed by Valentin Tournet (Château de Versailles Live), paired with Bach’s exuberant Christmas cantata BWV 63, Christen, ätzen diesen Tag (Christians, engrave this day).