Chor der Oper Frankfurt - Christmas Eve - DVD

Composed using his own libretto, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov created this magical opera based on the short story by Nikolay Gogol 'The Night before Christmas' in which Vakula the handsome blacksmith wants to marry the rich farmer's daughter Oksana, who in turn demands that he must first bring her the Tsarina's shoes. Meanwhile a witch on her broomstick gathers the stars and the devil steals the moon - demonic forces trying to hinder this romantic union. There is little repertoire in musical theatre in which enchantment and enlightenment come together so happily as in Rimsky-Korsakov's fairy-tale operas, and this Oper Frankfurt production was considered 'a perfect seasonal tonic' by the Financial Times.

For many, the Christmas holiday season would be incomplete without the resounding drum roll and trumpet fanfare that opens Bach's InchOratorium auf die Heilige WeynachtInch (InchOratorio for the holy ChristmasInch). Ever since it was first performed by the Thomaskantor between Christmas Day in 1734 and Epiphany 1735 in Leipzig's two main churches of St. Thomas and St. Nikolai, Bach's six part musical masterpiece has become a cornerstone of the city's identity and musical heritage. The performance presented here, led by Bach's 17th successor Gotthold Schwarz together with the Thomanerchor and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, features a lineup of renowned soloists, enabling one to experience the festive grandeur of what many consider the epitome of Christmas music in it's original setting. InchGotthold Schwarz transforms this into a Christmas Oratorio that is far more than a sum of it's parts... his musical rhetoric avoids cheap gimmicks and vain showmanship.Inch (Peter Korfmacher, LVZ)

Michael Praetorius was the most prolific German composer of his generation, making use of a beauty of sound and an abundance of instruments worthy of his contemporary Monteverdi. Here we have a festive Christmas Mass as might have been heard in a great Lutheran church in the North of Germany in around 1620. The congregation sang Lutheran Chorals which were part of the other music and which required the presence of the best performers in the city as a support to the children's and adult's choir creating an extraordinary musical communion. Spatialising this Christmas Morning Mass in the exceptional architecture of the Royal Chapel of Versailles, Paul McCreesh alternates these monumental pieces and the soloist's airs in a rich instrumental decoration, giving the work the popular and festive dimension of a brilliant fresco.