From Messiah to Jonas Kaufmann - the best classical Christmas albums of 2020

The Guardian 0

This year’s festive zingers take you from Berlin to Buckfast Abbey, from Mexico to Kaufmann in full-on crooner mode

This year’s heap of Christmas albums is smaller, but the balance has shifted: plenty of novelty and baroque discovery from outstanding choirs, only one (in this selection) in the special seasonal celebrity-tinsel-cringe category. First up: a covetable new recording of Handel’s Messiah (Pentatone), the traditional Christmas work despite its Passiontide credentials, with spirited, lean performances from the Rias Kammerchor Berlin and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, conducted by Justin Doyle, with top soloists Julia Doyle, Tim Mead, Thomas Hobbs and Roderick Williams.