Holiday Fest 2024

For today's Fest, we have three of my favorite holiday recordings.  Hugely-known songs, but not arranged like this.  These are come from my Internet friend, the talented composer, arranger, conductor, musician, whatever else, etc. Peter Breiner.  What he's done on his albums Christmas Goes Baroque, which was successful enough that it brought about a sequel, Christmas Goes Baroque II, is to take well-known Christmas carols and popular Christmas songs and arrange them as if written during the Baroque period. 

I've heard some other recordings that attempt something similar, but these just leap out so far ahead of the others that there's almost no comparison.  Breiner's arrangements are so exquisite that you'd almost swear, "Wait, was 'Jingle Bells' actually written 1685??"  Some arrangements clever in overlapping other songs.  And they are all played gorgeously by the Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra and Nicolaus Esterhazy Symfonia.  There's no winking to the listener or tongue-in-cheek cuteness to these albums, it's all done with artistry and affection.

From the original Christmas Goes Baroque album, we open with "Jingle Bells," a song you'd think hard pressed to sound anything other than the fun, sing-songy number we hear in shopping malls and elevators, rather than something with a stateliness, grace and depth.

Next, we have perhaps the most remarkable of Breiner's arrangements.  It's "White Christmas" but arranged as if it sounds almost like Bach's  "Air on a G String."  It's hard not to marvel at the achievement.  This comes from  Christmas Goes Baroque II​.

Finally, also from the first Christmas Goes Baroque album, this is "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" which is  arranged and performed to sound so majestic that you almost expect to find out that George Frideric Handel is at the podium for the recording, as Austrian King Charles VI and Queen Elisabeth make their entrance into the palace ballroom for the holiday gala. 

To those who appreciate these recordings as much  I do, I included links to them on Amazon in the opening above, which you can just click on. 

And as a bonus, here's a video of the good fellow conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in his arrangement of "Carol of the Bells."