Surely the world’s most affable gardener, Alan Titchmarsh, who shares his musical enthusiasms on his weekly Classic FM show, has hit the top spot in the UK official classical artist albums chart in the run-up to Christmas. Jack Frost: A Winter Story (Silva Screen) is a charming, chilly and melodic seasonal tale that Titchmarsh has written and narrates in his second collaboration with the composer Debbie Wiseman, whose credits include the music for BBC TV’s Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light.
Skim the rest of the classical chart and a theme appears: Christmas at King’s; Best Loved Christmas Carols; Carols from Cambridge: The Very Best; Carols from King’s College Cambridge. Many of these compilations are directed by David Willcocks. He died in 2015 aged 95, but his arrangements are immortal. This pure-voiced choir of men and boy angels and its Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (live on Radio 4 and the BBC World Service on Christmas Eve at 3pm/on BBC Two, 6pm) remains the traditional favourite. Whichever album you select, quality will be of the highest.
Not to be confused, the mixed-voice Choir of King’s College London also has impressive standards. This year, Nativity (Delphian), directed by Joseph Fort, is devoted to music by Edward Nesbit (b.1986), skilled in choral writing. The mood is upbeat and appealing. First-rate soloists are baritone Benedict Nelson and Angharad Lyddon, with harpist Anneke Hodnett and horn player Martin Owen adding instrumental atmosphere.
Jumping back through the centuries, the Christmas story – Weihnachtshistorie – by Heinrich Schütz, for soloists, choir and organ, was first performed in Dresden, probably in 1660. La Capella Ducale and Musica Fiata (Sony), directed by Roland Wilson, give a lithe, historically informed performance, strongly recommended for anyone curious about what came before Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (1734). Also includes one of Schütz’s stunning Magnificats.
News of Great Joy: Christmas from St John’s College, Oxford (Resonus), directed by David Bannister, steers a different path, with a carefully chosen selection sung by a mixed choir, and using saxophone, violin and harp as well as organ. Carols include Imogen Holst’s Nowell and Nowell, Elizabeth Maconchy’s There Is No Rose and Elizabeth Poston’s Jesus Christ the Apple Tree, plus works by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Bob Chilcott.
Another Oxford album comes from the Choir and Girl Choristers of Merton College, with Oxford Contemporary Sinfonia. The Christmas Story (Delphian) is a spirited telling of the nativity by Gabriel Jackson (b.1962), from Advent to Candlemas.
For traditional carols sung by boys and men, the acclaimed Windsbacher Knabenchor, founded in 1946, is hard to beat. In dulci Jubilo (Sony), with the Lautten Compagney Berlin – lutes, violin, flute, percussion – has favourites as well as novelties, sung in German and beautifully drilled. For female voices, try The Waiting Sky EP (Sony) by the expertly trained Pembroke College Girls’ Choir, directed by Anna Lapwood.
Top soloists can never resist a festive release. Results can be cringeworthy. This year, with The Christmas Album (Alpha Classics), the excellent German baritone Benjamin Appl shows it can be done thoughtfully and well. He is joined by the Regensburg Cathedral Choir, where he was once a boy chorister.
If in doubt, choose any Christmas album (on Coro) by that ever-rewarding ensemble the Sixteen. For streamed concerts: the impeccable Voces8 are holding their fifth Live from London series, available until 6 January.
Finally and heartwarmingly, Christmas with the Bevan Family Consort (Signum Classics) features 14 members, professional and amateur, siblings and cousins, of the remarkable Bevan dynasty, in music from the Renaissance onwards. A model of peaceable family enterprise: one to play when the post-pudding mood gets dysfunctional.
