Christmas Concert

• Main performer: Georg Ratzinger
• Booklet languages: English
• Libretto languages: German, English, Latin
• Time: 46:16
• Release Date: 1980

Review

A straight reissue with a new cover of Deutsche Grammophon's 1980 recording of Georg Ratzinger and the Regensburger Domspatzen's Weihnachtskonzert, this disc will please fans of German Christmas music as well as fans of a cappella boy choirs -- augmented, when necessary, by men. All the big hits of the German seasonal repertoire are here, from the anonymous O du fröhlichte, O du selige to Michael Praetorius' Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen to Franz Xaver Gruber's ever-popular Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht along with less well known but no less lovely works like Hans Leo Hassler's Verbum caro factum est and Carl Loewe's Quem pastores laudavere. And the performances are consistently first-rate. Ratzinger -- the musical brother of Pope Benedict XVI -- leads wonderfully musical and wholly devotional performances, and the members of the Regensburger Domspatzen -- the Regensburger Cathedral Choir, for those whose German isn't all it could be -- sing like their souls depend on it. And with purity of tone and flawlessness of pronunciation along with Ratzinger's skillful guidance, the choir wins the immortality of being reissued. Captured with amazing clarity and incredible warmth in Deutsche Grammophon's best late stereo sound, this disc belongs under the Tanenbaum of every Hansel and Gretel. ~ James Leonard, All Music Guide

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
Christmas Traditional	Oh, du fröhliche, oh, du selige (German)	2:25
Johannes Eccard	Übers Gebirg Maria geht	2:52
Giovanni Gabrieli	Benedixisti Domine, motet for 7 voices	1:58
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina	Hodie Christus natus est, for 4 voices	2:43
Samuel Scheidt	O Jesulein zart (arranged on the basis of an original figured bass by J.S. Bach)	2:06
Michael Praetorius	Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming), for chorus	2:40
Johannes Eccard	Von der Geburt Christi	3:44
Johann Friedrich Reichardt	Heilige Nacht	2:27
Carl Loewe	Quem pastores laudavere	3:11
Adam Gumpelzhaimer	Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her	2:06
Cornelius Freundt	Wie schön singt uns der Engel Schar	2:05
Gottfried Rüdiger	Still, o Himmel	2:06
Gottfried Rüdiger	Es blühen die Maien	1:37
Hans Leo Hassler	Verbum caro factum est	2:51
Carl Thiel	Freu' dich, Erd' und Sternenzelt	2:10
Anonymous	O Schlafe, Schlafe, Göttliche Knabe	2:10
Christmas Traditional	The Wind Blows On The Hill	1:32
Carl Thiel	Adeste fidelis (O Come, All Ye Faithful)	2:32
Franz Xaver Gruber	Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht (Silent Night)	3:01