Christmas around Europe 2020 (320kbps .mp3)

BBC Radio 3’s Christmas Day broadcasting. Here I have converted the .m4a to .mp3 but as the broadcasts are so long I have not broken them down into the individual items.


01. Iceland, Denmark and Canada

A day-long festival of Christmas and singing from across Europe and Canada in the European Broadcasting Union’s annual Christmas music day. In a year where singing in choirs has largely been curtailed due to the global pandemic, choirs and orchestras come together in socially distant performances of music that celebrates the joy of singing and the wonder of Christmas.

Presented by Hannah French.

9am
From Iceland, an Italian Baroque Christmas Concert with the Reykjavik Chamber Orchestra performing music by Pergolesi, Locatelli, Vivaldi and Veracini.

Pergolesi: Violin Concerto in B flat major
Locatelli: Concerti XI a quattro in C minor
Vivaldi: Cello concerto in G major RV 415
Veracini: Overture nr. 6 in Bb major

Laufey Jensdóttir, violin
Steiney Sigurðardóttir, cello
Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra

10am
"Motets in Advent -William Byrd, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Thomas Tallis & Robert White" - a Christmas concert with The Theatre of Voices and Paul Hillier, from Copenhagen. The program is a selection of the finest vocal and organ music of the Renaissance: praise, the proclamation, the mystery, the birth, the cradle of the child of Christ, and the light of God over man.

William Byrd: Laudibus in sanctis, from 'Cantiones Sacrae' (1589)
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck: Ons ist geboren een kindekijn
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck: Ecce virgo concipiet
Thomas Tallis: Clarifica me pater (II, I)
William Byrd: O magnum mysterium; Beata virgo; Ave Maria
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck: Hodie Christus natus est
William Byrd: A Voluntarie for my Ladye Nevell
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621) - In illo tempore
William Byrd: Lullaby, my sweet little baby; A Grounde, BK43
Robert White: Christe qui lux es et dies (IV, à 5)
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck: Toccata, primi toni; Gaudete omnes

Yngvild Ruud, organ
Theatre of Voices
Paul Hillier, conductor

11am
A Christmas Concert with the Early Music ensemble La Nef with sopranos Meredith Hall and Donna Kanerahtenha:wi Jacobs (from the First Nations Mohawk Community), from Montreal. A concert featuring Baroque and traditional Christmas music from Montreal’s five founding communities.

Traditional (First Nations Mohawk): Ok Skennen Ko Wa
Anonymous: Eesus ahatonnyah
Traditional (France): Nous voici dans la ville
Pierre Dandrieu: Or, nous dites, Marie
Traditional (Ireland): What Child is This? - My Lagan Love
Traditional (Isle of Man): Usheg Veg Ruy (Little Red Bird)
John Playford: The Cold Suite: On the Cold Ground; Drive the Cold Winter Away; Cold and Raw; My Lodging is on the Cold Ground
Traditional (Wales): Welsh Carol
Traditional (France): Entre le bœuf et l’âne gris
Louis-Claude Daquin: Suite de Noëls français
Traditional (Scotland): A Cogie of Ale and a Pickle Ait Meal
Traditional (Scotland): Scottish Reel
Tony O'Connell: Christmas in Kinsale (jig)
Tommy Coen: Christmas Eve Reel
Traditional (England): Gloucestershire Wassail
Traditional: Please to See the King
Traditional (Ireland): The Wren Song

Meredith Hall, soprano
Donna Kanerahtenha:wi Jacobs, soprano
La Nef
Sylvain Bergeron, artisitc director, archlute, Baroque guitar
Alex Kehler, violin (trad.), nyckelharpa
Robin Grenon, harps
Grégoire Jeay, recorders, traverso flute
Marie-Laurence Primeau, viola da gamba
Andrew Wells-Oberegger, percussion

02. Finland and Spain

A day-long festival of Christmas and singing from across Europe and Canada in the European Broadcasting Union’s annual Christmas music day. In a year where singing in choirs has largely been curtailed due to the global pandemic, choirs and orchestras come together in socially distant performances of music that celebrates the joy of singing and the wonder of Christmas.

Presented by Hannah French.

1pm
Live Christmas Concert with Maria Ylipää and Friends, from Helsinki. Maria Ylipää and Friends offer a stylistically versatile concert cocktail of Christmas music under the title "Star of Wonder". The concert consists of old and new music from Finland and abroad.

Jean Sibelius: Bell Tune of Kallio Church
Terre Roche: Star of Wonder
Alfred S. Burt: Some Children See Him
Joni Mitchell: River
Traditional (Sweden): Mitt hjärta vandrar alltid till platsen du blev född
Jean Sibelius: En etsi valtaa loistoa
Heino Kaski: Mökit nukkuu lumiset
Jukka Leppilampi: Aasi ja timpurin muija
Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah
Franz Xaver Gruber: Silent Night, Holy Night

Maria Ylipää, vocals
Marzi Nyman, guitar
Niko Kumpuvaara, accordion
Ville Herrala, double bass

2pm
Christmas Concert: The World of Children, with Veus - Cor Infantil Amics de la Unió, from Barcelona, together with soprano María Hinojosa and the Barcelona Symphonic Wind Band, under the baton of José Rafael Pascual-Vilaplana. Cor Infantil Amics de la Unió is winner, among other prizes, of the Silver Rose Bowl in the 2013 LTPS competition. Recorded at the Pau Casals Hall, L' Auditori, Barcelona.

Stephen Melillo: David
Nigel Hess: To the Stars!
Bert Apperpont: Celtic Child
Albert Guinovart: Suite Nadalenca

María Hinojosa, soprano
Veus - Cor Infantil Amics de la Unió
Josep Vila i Jover, chorus director
Barcelona Symphonic Wind Band
José Rafael Pascual-Vilaplana, conductor

03. Budapest, Ljubljana, Stockholm, Cologne, Arnstadt and Munich
Christmas around Europe

Andrew McGregor continues the day-long festival of Christmas and singing from across Europe and Canada in the European Broadcasting Union’s annual Christmas music day. In a year where singing in choirs has largely been curtailed due to the global pandemic, choirs and orchestras come together in socially distant performances of music that celebrates the joy of singing and the wonder of Christmas.

4pm
An Advent concert given by Honvéd Férfikar (Honvéd Men's Chorus) from Budapest.

JS Bach: Jesu, joy of man's desiring, from 'Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147'
Jacobus Gallus: Natus est nobis
Handel: Thanks be to Thee, O Lord
Rachmaninov: We Praise Thee, O Mother of God
Rejoice, o Virgin (Ave Maria) from 'Vespers (All-Night Vigil), op. 37
Schubert: Psalm 23, D. 796
Franck: Panis Angelicus
Mihály Mosony: Ave Maria
Ambrož Čopi: Totus tuus
Kodaly: Evening Song
Jan Nieland: Magnificat
Saint-Saëns: Tollite hostias, from 'Oratorio de Noël, op. 12'
Randol Alan Bass: Gloria

Tamás Egresi, baritone
András Decsi, tenor
András Stampay-Komesz, baritone
László Adrián Nagy, piano
Honvéd Men's Chorus
Richárd Riederauer, conductor

5pm
An archive Christmas concert from 21 December 2014 from Ljubljana, featuring the Slovenian Philharmonic Chorus directed by Martina Batič
Music will include:

Valentin Vasilyovych Silvestrov: Liturgical Chants
César Cui: Magnificat
Georgy Vasilevich Sviridov: Having beheld a mysterious Nativity
Traditional (Russia): Shepherds of Bethlehem
Pavel Chesnokov: All of Creation Rejoices in Thee, op. 15/11
Franz Xaver Gruber: Silent Night, Holy Night

Monika Fele, soprano
Mojca Bitenc, soprano
Edita Garčević Koželj, alto
Gašper Banovec, tenor
Martin Logar, tenor
Tomaž Koder, baritone
Slovenian Philharmonic Chorus
Martina Batič, conductor

6pm
A Jazz Christmas Concert with international jazz trombonist, Nils Landgren and Friends, from Stockholm.

Mel Tormé: The Christmas Song
Ron Sexsmith: Maybe This Christmas
Mervyn Edwin Warren: Who Would Imagine a King
Gary Hines: Love is Born
Ron Miller: Someday at Christmas
Frank Loesser: Baby, It's Cold Outside
Trad: Ding Dong! Merrily on High
Roxanne Seeman: Everyday is Christmas
Traditional (Sweded): Prepare the way for the Lord
John Frederick Coots: Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
Gustaf Lazarus Nordqvist: Yule, yule, radiant yule
Handel: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, aria from Messiah, HWV 56

7pm
Christmas Concert with Rheinische Kantorei and Das Kleine Konzert, from Cologne

Telemann: Siehe! Ich verkündige euch grosse Freude, TVWV 1:1333
Tönet die Freude, belebte Trompeten, TVWV 1:1410
Darzu ist erschienen die Liebe Gottes, TVWV 1:166

Veronika Winter, soprano
Anne Bierwirth, contralto
Georg Poplutz, tenor
Matthias Vieweg, baritone
Das Kleine Konzert
Rheinische Kantorei
Hermann Max, conductor

8pm – 9.30pm
The vocal group Ensemble Polyharmonique and Thüringer Bach Collegium perform parts of J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio. Taking place in the church in Arnstadt where J.S. Bach held his first post as organist (1703-1707), this concert will feature the first three cantatas of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, given by two ensembles that specialise in historically informed performances.

J.S. Bach: Cantatas I-III, from 'Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248
Ensemble Polyharmonique
Thüringer Bach Collegium

9.30 – 11pm

Christmas Concert with Bavarian Radio Chorus, Munich Radio Orchestra and Howard Arman, from Munich

Johannes Eccard: Übers Gebirg Maria geht
Praetorius: Angelus ad pastores ait
Traditional (Germany): Ach bittrer Winter
Schlaf wohl, du Himmelsknabe du
Scheidt: O Jesulein süss
JS Bach: Ich steh´ an Deiner Krippen hier, BWV 469
Arvo Pärt: ...which was the son of...
Magnificat
Maxwell Davies : Four carols From O magnum mysterium:
O magnum mysterium
Haylle comly and clene
Alleluia, pro Virgine Maria
The Fader of Heven
Traditional (England) - Coventry Carol
William Ballet: Lute-book lullaby
Warlock: Bethlehem Down
Traditional (Germany):
Resonet in laudibus
Lieb Nachtigall, wach auf
Lasst uns froh und munter sein
Traditional (Spiritual): Ain't That A-Rockin'
Mary Had a Baby
Traditional (Germany) : O Tannenbaum
Traditional (England): Sussex Carol
The Twelve Days of Christmas
Felix Bernard: Winter Wonderland
Irving Berlin: White Christmas

Bavarian Radio Chorus
Munich Radio Orchestra
Howard Arman, conductor


First broadcast:  20 December 2020

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