Music for Your Silent Monks: “The Hallelujah Chorus” by George Frideric Handel

This video makes me smile every time I see it.

 Handel’s masterpiece was originally written for Easter, but it’s become a Christmas staple, and there are dozens of versions on Freegal.

If you want the traditional orchestra and choir version, you can look for the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Fiedler, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

If you’d like to hear it in another language, you can give a listen to the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra.

If you like hearing just one person interpret it, you can pull up Johnny Mathis or Neil Diamond.

And if you’re in the mood for something really different, then you’ll want to search for Philharmonic 2000’s version. It’s called “Hallelujah Hustle.”

"There's a tree in the Grand Hotel": "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" sung by Dean Martin



Photo:  Eritfpdsw20

This bouncy little song was written by Meredith Wilson in 1951. If his name (yes, Meredith was a man's name back then) sounds familiar, it's because he wrote the music for The Music Man.

The story goes that he was staying in Yarmouth, Novia Scotia, looking out at "the tree in the Grand Hotel," --and presumable one in the park as well.

If Dean Martin isn’t your style, you can find versions by Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Johhny Mathis, Michael Buble, & Alvin & the Chipmunks on Freegal.

“Oh, the weather outside is frightful”: “Let It Snow” by Glee

Photo: Pollo

This nod to sitting smugly by the fire while the tempest rages outside was penned back in 1945. It was a modern song, mentioning newfangled things like popping corn. (Funny, I thought the Native Americans did it way back.)

Today, in Denver, the snow is falling (finally! –the first we’ve had this year), and it is nice to be sitting inside cozy and warm, though we are making scones instead of popping corn.
Glee has a jazzy version on Freegal.

When it comes to other versions, the question is who doesn’t have a version out. There are over a dozen pages of artists; here is just a sampling:  Johnny Mathis, Doris Day, Harry Connick, Jr., Frank Sinatra, Wynton Marsalis, Andy Williams, Bing Crosby, Jessica Simpson, Kenny G., and Dean Martin. If you are in a country mood, you can listen to Martina McBride, Tanya Tucker, or Austin band Asleep at the Wheel.

If you are in a really different sort of mood, you can listen to the Christmas Jug Band (they whistle the tune—reminds me of the Andy Griffith theme), or you can hear it sung in Polish by Moje Vanoce.

I came across a music box version by Mic Musicbox that I like. It sounds different from all the others.

“It’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together…”: “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson

Photo: Declan Jewell

"Sleigh Ride" has just seemed like one of those songs that is always around during the Christmas season, and no wonder since year after year it is the most-played song on the radio, according to ASCAP.

It was written by Leroy Anderson, he of the songs that feature creative sound effects. My parents had an album of The Boston Pops performing a Leroy Anderson fun fest, and there were songs with typewriters and chickens, and such.

You can find about any style you'd like in Freegal. In addition to traditional orchestra versions, you can find renditions by Johnny Mathis, Ray Conniff, Wynton Marsalis, Harry Connick, Jr., Neil Diamond, Mitch Miller, Andy Williams, George Shearing, Clay Aiken, Duke Ellington, Henry Mancini, Columba Minstrals (Celtic), Nashville Superpickers, and Kenny G.
I prefer the orchestral versions by Arthur Fiedler or Christmas Strings.
 

“Fly Me to the Moon”—a Song for Neil Armstrong.



Neil Armstrong on the moo  Photo: NASA

 Freegal has hundreds of versions “Fly Me to the Moon,” a song that seems appropriate for the man who became fascinated with flying when he first went up in a plane. It was 1936—and he was 6 years old.

You can find versions by Rod Stewart, Kenny G., Tony Bennett, The Boston Pops, Perry Como,  Judy Garland, and Johnny Mathis.

If you like your “Moon” a little different, check out versions by The Alliance (acapella), The Toadmortons (rock), Bulgarian National Radio (big band), Laurie Berkner (childrens),  Ernie Penfold (Hawaiian guitar), or Milana Misic (Finnish pop).