Carol On

Every year at this time I wish I had an album of all the gorgeous Advent carols. It's easy to find chant and polyphany, but for some reason not carols. Today I have at least the consolation of a son who can play piano by ear, so we can get beyond O Come, O Come Emanuel and belt out Christians, Look East and Gaudeamus Pariter with my favorite 3rd verse:

Strengthen, feeble hands and knees,
Fainting hearts be cheerful!
God who comes for such as these
Seeks and saves the fearful;
Now the deaf can hear the dumb
Sing away their weeping;
Blind eyes see the injured come,
Walking, Running, Leaping.

You can almost sense the glory of that day if you sing it right. Anyway, my kingdom for a good Advent album --you know, something to harmonize with and meditate on during all the baking, driving, wrapping or what-not.

Since carols are genuine folk music, I have strict rules about their performance:

1. Fie upon over-orchestration.
2. Cursed be he who obliterates the lyrics.
   
3. Cursed be he who medleys with the music.
   
4. The celebrity Christmas album is an abomination unto my soul (even my beloved Placido Domingo's; although I confess a certain weakness for Bing Crosby's rendition of Jingle Bells).
   

With this in mind, in case anyone cares, here are some particularly good Christmas carol collections. Every so often I try new ones, but it's rare to find the melodies respected, and in our house we keep coming back to these three:

• Alan Mills, Christmas Songs from Many Lands. His rich voice, just barely accompanied by guitar, and a collection of gorgeous carols from everywhere, hardly any cliches. I think he's responsible for teaching everyone the Huron carol (the album is from 1957). Another particular favorite is a sung legend about a roasted rooster rising to crow the infant Jesus. I never speak ill of Canada out of respect for Alan Mills.
  
• Christmas with the Robert Shaw Chorale. Far and away the best renditions of "the classics." The bad thing is, it will spoil you for any other chorus, practically.
  
• Colonial Folk Christmas by Linda Russell & Companie. My sister picked it up for me in one of those "everything $2" bins. A gem. I love it for the Watts Cradle Song.