Christmas used to be the only time of the year you could walk into a shopping mall or a grocery store and encounter truly sublime music. No longer. It's now interminable, tacky, overwrought Christmas pop. I swear, if I have to hear "Rock Around the Christmas Tree" one more time, I will scream. (That one is kind of cute, but one listen per annum is plenty.)
So as a public service, I am going to post a series of Christmas music videos, part of the playlist I've been compiling to console myself in the absence of my Christmas CD's which are far, far away. Warning: my tastes are eclectic, but all of these will share the characteristic of being explicitly religious. You don't have to be religious to enjoy them though. I like music that stands on its own. If you don't like today's offering, come back for tomorrow's. It will be something quite different.
![Christmas at Baylor Christmas at Baylor](http://www.baylor.edu/content/imglib/4625.jpg)
From the "Christmas at Baylor" DVD.
In passing, if you like choral music, try to take in university concert choirs. There's nothing like a choir made up almost entirely of music majors.
Technorati tags: Christmas music, Lo, how a rose e'er blooming, Christmas at Baylor
5 comments:
Oh Janet, goosebumps! Hearing this choir makes me miss my singing days. We even sang the first song, "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming." Just gorgeous!
Beautiful! My wife will be singing this on Friday, as part of a small group in our church choir.
We're singing portions of Bach's 'Magnificat', which is fantastic, but also 'Away in a Manger', which makes me cry. The third verse gets me every time.
Jared, do you find that becoming a father made you more sentimental? I know parenthood contributed a lot to my ability to tear up.
I've always been sentimental (e.g., poetry minor), and have always liked kids. Becoming a father has tempered neither tendency.
This is the first time I can recall this song having such an effect on me.
Be near me, Lord Jesus, / I ask Thee to stay / close by me forever / and love me I pray.
I pray, as a sing, that my son can experience such certainty and comfort, where I did not. Especially when he's having a rough year at school, and his mother and I are there for him less than we should be.
That said, even Hallmark commercials make me cry.
Everything makes me cry now, it's terrible.
It is a great gift you are giving your son. When a child grows up certain of God's love, even if they run hard in the other direction, when they hit a wall, they know where to go. I am speaking from personal experience.
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