Classical music: Today is Christmas Day 2017. The Ear’s gift is a concert of 16th-century British holiday music from Stile Antico and NPR

By Jacob Stockinger

Today is Christmas Day, 2017.

As always, the holiday season has seen an outstanding time for choral music.

We all have our favorites, including the “Christmas Oratorio” by Johann Sebastian Bach and the oratorio “Messiah” by George Frideric Handel. Add in traditional music and carols, hymns and then Baroque instrumental music by Vivaldi and Corelli among others. The choices are vast.

But this year The Ear wandered across something new and relatively unknown.

It is almost a one-hour-long concert of 16th-century British holiday music from the Tudor era.

The performers are the award-winning, 13-member a cappella early music group Stile Antico (below, in a  photo by Marco Borggreve).

The featured composers in this concert that has been posted on the Deceptive Cadence” blog by NPR (National Public Radio) include Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.

Here it is:

https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2012/12/03/166416569/a-choral-christmas-with-stile-antico

Enjoy!

And Merry Christmas to all!

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Posted in Classical music
Tags: a cappella, Arts, Bach, Baroque, British, Byrd, Carol, choice, choral music, Christmas, Christmas Day, Christmas Oratorio, Classical music, composer, concerto, Corelli, Early music, England, English, favorite, George Frideric Handel, grossi, hymn, instrumental, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Messiah, Music, NPR, oratorio, Stile Antico, Tallis, tradition, traditional, Tudor, UK, United Kingdom, United States, Vivaldi, vocal music, YouTube