We are almost at the end of another furious holiday buying season, with most people going down to the wire Christmas Eve afternoon, I gather. I have been done my shopping for almost a week now, since I know this final week is so busy with my duties at CKTB RADIO and running my music business, A Web of Fine Music. Saleswise, I don't think this will be my best December ever, but it should at least be respectable. I will tally up the numbers next week once I have a chance to catch my breath and analyze the proverbial tea leaves then.
For me personally, Christmas has been a much too hectic and stressful time, and I have made efforts to alleviate that stress over the past several years. I have had some success, but those successes are still rather small. That said, I look forward most of all to what comes after the commercial aspect of the season is done and before the big day actually arrives. That, of course, means Christmas Eve.
For 21 years, I have had the pleasure and honour of hosting the radio broadcast of Midnight Mass, live from the Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria in downtown St. Catharines, as I will again this year, my 22nd consecutive. Since 1989, I have not missed a single broadcast, although I did come close in 1998 when I slipped on ice and fell a few days before Christmas, thoroughly destroying my right arm and landing me in hospital. I had to beg the surgeon to release me in time for the broadcast, which I did in a very poor state of health before collapsing in bed very late. I should have stayed in hospital, of course, but you know how it is when you feel you simply have to do something that means a lot to you.
In the early years, I wrote the script from scratch every year on an old Underwood manual typewriter I still own. By the turn of the new century, I was dipping my fingers into the computer technology age, with somewhat mixed results. Nowadays, with a completely modern Apple iMac computer and the ability to save the script each year and simply update the pertinent information each time, I have managed to cut down my scriptwriting time by over half. That is one good thing about computers, I will concede. This year will be somewhat different, though, as I plan to have the script written in the afternoon rather than Christmas Eve itself as in past years. With Christmas falling on a Sunday this year, I don't expect a very busy December 24th this year, and I certainly won't be out until early evening making final deliveries as in past years. So I might actually be able to relax and enjoy some peace and contentment Christmas Eve before the broadcast begins at 11:30.
Over the years I have made music a very important part of my Christmas Eve ritual, putting aside the more popular fare for more traditional choral music reflecting the solemnity of the moment and the impending joy of Christmas morning. Often I would pull out my historic 1959 recording of Handel's Messiah with Sir Thomas Beecham conducting, now long out of print, unfortunately. I have also for many years enjoyed the glorious Archiv recording by Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort & Players of the Lutheran Mass for Christmas Morning by Michael Praetorius. It has a sound that simply takes your breath away and I never tire of it.
More recently, I have enjoyed a Chandos recording by Richard Hickox and the City of London Sinfonia along with The Joyful Company of Singers, performing Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Christmas Carols/The First Nowell/On Christmas Night. It is a simply beautiful recording of glorious carol singing by an expert group. It is still in stock at www.finemusic.ca. I will be adding two new recordings to my Christmas Eve listening this year, both of which are also currently available through my website A Web of Fine Music. The first is A Steinway Christmas Album by pianist Jeffrey Biegel, who appeared last month with the Niagara Symphony. It is a stylish piano collection of familiar and not-so-familiar carols and seasonal music, ranging from Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride to December from Tchaikovsky's The Seasons. The second is a Chandos Super Audio recording by the Choir of St. John's College, Cambridge, entitled On Christmas Night. Familiar material such as Coventry Carol and Silent Night are here, of course, as well as less-familiar choral pieces such as The Lamb by Sir John Tavener and Out of Your Sleep by Sir Richard Rodney-Bennett. The sound is amazing and expansive, and the singing is superb. Any of these discs in stock would make great additions to your personal Christmas music collections, and are still available through my website, www.finemusic.ca by using the order form provided, or by simply emailing me directly at music@vaxxine.com.
So, however you choose to celebrate or observe the night of December 24th, I hope you do it with music. For my part, I want to take this opportunity to thank you both for your patronage of A Web of Fine Music and reading my blog postings in this space every week. It is nice to know you are out there, and I appreciate the support on both fronts. Whatever this season means to you and however you choose to observe it, I wish you only the best for the season and the coming New Year ahead. Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Festivus, whatever you are celebrating and however you choose to celebrate it. Celebrate with music, and hopefully great music for the season courtesy of A Web of Fine Music!
Happy Holidays!
December 23rd, 2011.
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