I know, I know. By the time it actually gets to Christmas the last thing you can face - what with Debenhams soundtracks, choristers around every corner and a thousand brass bands - is yet more carols. Nauseous with Nowells, stuffed full of fa-la-lahs, all any sensible being wants to do is retire to a dark space and put on some nourishing, oh, I don't know, whale music.
But it doesn't have to be like this. As Caroline Sullivan and plentiful others suavely demonstrated yesterday, there's significantly more to Christmas than Cliff Richard. So too with the classical end of things. And to prove it, here are ten top tracks that you should download immediately and play on repeat for the next 72 hours, pausing only to glug mulled wine and stuff your face full of figgy pudding.
This being the blog, this being democracy, of course I want to hear your suggestions too. Bet you they won't be as good as mine, though.
1. Benjamin Britten, Wolcum Yole [from Ceremony of Carols] School nativity plays are purgatorial, as we know, but think how much better they'd be if your little angels were as tuneful as this lot. Britten wrote superlatively for children's voices, never more so than in the boyish riot of this medieval-style carol, sweetly accompanied by harp.
2. Giovanni Gabrieli, Quem Vidistis Pastores Opulence, decadence, incense ... The Venetians do Christmas properly, and especially in the dazzling choral music of the late Renaissance, much of it written for St Mark's. Here Gabrieli offsets the earthy sounds of sackbuts and cornets (think very posh brass band) with glittering choral lines reaching down from the heavens. It ends in the fattest, most thrilling chords you'll hear this side of the Second Coming.
3. Francis Poulenc, Videntes Stellam We Three Kings of Orient Are isn't, thankfully, the last word on the subject of the Magi (or their taste in transport). Poulenc's ethereal motet, written in the early 50s, opens with an angelic choir of female voices and builds enticingly as the journey progresses. Its minimalist, pared-back style has proved influential - but this piece is exactly 17 times better than anything churned out by John Tavener.
4. William Byrd, O Magnum Mysterium Beauty and sadness are always interlaced in the music of William Byrd, a practising Catholic who had the misfortune (not to mention courage) to write religious music during the Protestant regime of Elizabeth I. The great "mystery" of the title is that the miracle of Christ's birth has been witnessed by mere farmyard animals, and Byrd pointedly produces a lament for civilisation gone astray - imploring, hoping, that things might change.
5. Herbert Howells, A Spotless Rose Its lilting contours may have been inspired by the manoeuvrings of the Midland Railway (the composer claimed to have written this carol while observing trains shunting in Gloucestershire), but this delicate tribute to the Virgin Mary is one of the most lustrous things Howells ever wrote. Do the arching baritone solo justice, as any vocalist will tell you, and you'll have the entire congregation vying to drag you under the mistletoe.
6. Claude Debussy, Des pas sur le neige Not technically Christmassy, but we'd all be glad of some snow this year, so who cares? Debussy's thoughtful, melancholic piece, one of his Preludes for piano, has more than a whiff of Thelonious Monk about it. Beats Joni Mitchell if you're feeling the festive blues.
7. Johann Sebastian Bach, Schlafe, Mein Liebster [from the Christmas Oratorio] A song of seduction recycled by Bach from an older, non-religious work, this aria - a lullaby sung by Mary to her sleeping child - retains, despite the innocence of its context, a certain tantalising thrill. The husky vocal line is embraced by rocking strings and whispering flutes.
8. Coventry Carol (1591 version) This haunting lament, sung by the mothers of children massacred by Herod, is taken from the medieval mystery play put on in Coventry (hence the name). But this isn't the version you're thinking of, which was sanitised by Edwardian arranger Martin Shaw; it's the 16th-century setting - darker, spicier and infinitely spookier.
9. Noël Nouvelet (traditional), arr. Stephen Jackson At this time of year English churches are full of traditional tunes, cheesily reworked, but this version of an old French carol is an honourably subtle exception. Treble voices float above a hushed organ accompaniment, intoning the words "Let us sing Christmas for the new king" to a lingering, plainsongy melody.
10. Olivier Messiaen, Dieu parmi nous [from La nativité du Seigneur] Organ music isn't for everyone, least of all when it's honking, modern organ music, but if you're after something to stun your party guests it's difficult to rival this exuberant, frenetic and explosively noisy work, a jazzy attempt to capture the sound of mankind rejoicing God's arrival on earth. Puts the mass back into Christmas.
