Christmas with the Berliner Philharmoniker
Johann Sebastian Bach
Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048 (10 min.)Berliner Philharmoniker
Arcangelo Corelli
Concerto grosso in G minor, op. 6 no. 8 “Christmas Concerto” (1725 version for strings, two recorders and continuo) (15 min.)Berlin Baroque Soloists
Bernhard Forck
Saskia Fikentscher Recorder, Susann Seegers Recorder
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 1 in G minor, op. 13 “Winter Daydreams” (50 min.)Berliner Philharmoniker
Juraj Valcuha
Johann Sebastian Bach
Chorale Variations on “Vom Himmel hoch da komm‘ ich her” (arr. for choir and orchestra by Igor Stravinsky) (13 min.)Berliner Philharmoniker
Vladimir Jurowski
Rundfunkchor Berlin, Simon Halsey Chorus Master
Antonio Vivaldi
Gloria in D major, RV 589 (39 min.)Berliner Philharmoniker
Andrea Marcon
Lisa Larsson Soprano, Marina Prudenskaja Mezzo-Soprano, RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, Denis Comtet Chorus Master
- free
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The Nutcracker, op. 71: Excerpts (arr. by Andreas N. Tarkmann) (54 min.)Winds of the Berliner Philharmoniker
Pupils of the Hannah Höch Primary School Berlin-Reinickendorf, Rudolf Watzel Double Bass, Henning Trog Bassoon, Volker Eisenach Choreographer, Sarah Willis Presenter
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
“Exsultate, jubilate”, K. 165 (14 min.)Berliner Philharmoniker
Bernard Haitink
Christine Schäfer
Johann Sebastian Bach
Magnificat in D major, BWV 243 (34 min.)Berliner Philharmoniker
Ton Koopman
Klara Ek Soprano, Rachel Frenkel Mezzo-Soprano, Ingeborg Danz Contralto, Werner Güra Tenor, Klaus Mertens Bass, RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, Hans-Christoph Rademann Chorus Master
Many people associate Christmas with very specific music. Our playlist shows that there are also evocative compositions other than Bach’s famous Christmas oratorio that add sparkle to the Christmas holidays. Baroque music is often characterised by a festive expression: on the one hand, because it stands out from the arduous everyday life of the age and, on the other, because, like Bach’s cantatas, it was often written for the church calendar. With his concerti grossi, Arcangelo Corelli had a major influence on music history. He wrote one of them, his Concerto Grosso in G minor op. 6 no. 8, known as the Christmas concerto, “per la notte di natale” (“for the night of Christmas”). Bach’s Magnificat was not composed expressly for this occasion – but it has nevertheless gained a special place among the music for the celebrations. A performance by the Philharmoniker in 2010 was in the hands of Ton Koopman, one of the most knowledgeable and original exponents of historical performance practice.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky named his unjustly little-known First Symphony “Winter Daydreams”; the first two movements bear the programmatic titles “Dreams on a Winter Journey” and “Land of Desolation, Land of Mists”. With this symphony, rich in memorable melodies and folk-musical inflections, Tchaikovsky forged his own path to the genre. The ballet The Nutcracker is also about a winter dream, or more precisely a “Christmas dream”. In her sleep, the toys in the Christmas room appear to the girl Greta as living beings. She helps the Nutcracker, who is actually an enchanted prince, to put the Mouse King to flight. In 2010, an amusing and festive version of the work opened the Christmas concerts presented by Sarah Willis, which have long been part of the holidays in the Philharmoniker calendar for children and adults alike.