Reader Tips

Reader Tips 46 Comments

After hours of searching YouTube for a straightforward, reverential, calm, lyrical version of “Silent Night”, I was half tempted to type in “Eric Idle + Christmas” and post the result, but I restrained myself, because this is, in fact, the most wonderful time of the year.
Perhaps the purest, most traditional version I could find was by the Stockholm Church Choir, backed by the Högalids Chamber Orchestra; alas, the performance seems to have been recorded on a cell-phone camera from a detail-obscuring distance somewhere in the pews. The choir of King’s College, Cambridge, on the other hand, has a perfectly recorded and beautifully filmed version, but the director of the choir was evidently compelled to self-indulgently flower-arrange the harmonies in the second stanza, adding just enough flamboyant, mildly-discordant, outré notes to knock the wind out of the song. No one, apparently, was in a position to stop him.
No worries: here comes Munich-born pop singer Angela Wiedl to the rescue – thank you, Germany – as she and her young charges sing a firm, solid, meritorious and lovely version of Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht.
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.

46 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  1. Mark Steyn:
    “I think a healthy society needs both God and guns: it benefits from a belief in some kind of higher purpose to life on earth, and it requires a self-reliant citizenry. If you lack either of those twin props, you wind up with today’s Europe — a present-tense Eutopia mired in fatalism. A while back, I was struck by the words of Oscar van den Boogaard, a Dutch gay humanist (which is pretty much the trifecta of Eurocool). Reflecting on the Continent’s accelerating Islamification, he concluded that the jig was up for the Europe he loved, but what could he do? ‘I am not a warrior, but who is?’ he shrugged. ‘I have never learned to fight for my freedom. I was only good at enjoying it.'”
    The whole thing here.

  3. Once again EBD, thanks. That was lovely.
    Thanks also for the link to ‘one of the best’ of Steyn. I was only a tad dissappointed it wasn’t a recent post.Hoping he is well, he is in my thoughts and prayers.

  7. EBD, here’s a lovely version of “Silent Night”, sung by the choir of King’s College, Cambridge:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n036kBC1HEw
    (bluetech, I watched Hannity last night: Mark Steyn was the host. He looked thinner than usual but seemed healthy—and was his usual, pithy self! I’m praying for him too.)

  8. pkuster, many thanks for the Mannheim Steamroller version: what a fine group.
    Vitruvius, the Vienna Choir Boys were lovely too. Thanks.

  9. In 1914, “Silent Night” was sung simultaneously in French, English and German by troops during the Christmas Truce of World War I.
    It is a very special song.
    Thanks, EBD, and Merry Christmas to all.

  10. EBD, all three versions were great to listen to, even the second one. However I liked Angela’s the best. The Vienna Boys Choir version offered by Vitruvius is also very good. In fact, all four versions create what EBD was looking for in his first sentence. To my mind this song epitomizes Christmas.
    lookout, I believe Mark Steyn was the host on Hannity for the last two evenings.

  13. Vitruvius, the Vienna Boys Choir version is a great one, and I might well have chosen it except for the fact that you used it last Christmas. I felt it was better to pick a new one.
    Lookout: I enjoyed the KC choir’s version of the Nativity Carol, which I posted on December 21, but I really don’t like their director’s arrangement of Silent Night, particularly in the second stanza. Too much (any?) modern-style tonality/creativity on centuries-old songs – especially simple, soothing songs, like Silent Night – is mildly off-putting to my ears. To put that statement in perspective, I love jazz, including Monk and Coltrane, and it doesn’t bother me at all to hear them improvising old songs, even carols, but when it comes to non-secular, choral performances I’m a bit of a traditionalist.
    The Mannheim Steamroller version is relaxing, but the use of major-sevenths in a song like Silent Night is just wrong (to my ears, not anyone else’s) And turning the root (major) chord into the relative minor on the final “…peace” just makes me wonder “why?” Why remove the resolution, i.e. the melodic payoff?
    I’ll loosen up after Christmas.
    /:>)>

  14. Roger that on the V.B.C. version, EBD. I agree with you that it’s
    better to have the excellent Angela Wiedl version you chose.
    That done, then, I could add my old memory back too 😉

  16. Every time I’ve heard this sung, it seems like it’s a special gift from the singer(s) to me. The KC version seemed more like a gift to themselves.
    The song speaks to the soul.

  17. I feel awful about this. The guy was a human being. Violence is never the answer to personal problems. The comments thread is not funny, it’s disrespectful. I stole it from Blazing Cat Fur, who probably just put it up on his site to remind us to contemplate our own mortality.
    http://themcj.com/?p=17558

  19. Is there a Claus*?
    Is there a room in the Inn for Claus?
    “Centre assistant manager, Anna O’Donnell, said: “Claus is a cheeky wee lad who we think is around eight years old.”
    …-
    “Freezing* dog refuses to leave Glasgow bus”
    “An animal charity is hoping to find the owner of a dog which boarded a Glasgow bus in freezing conditions and refused to leave.
    The male cairn terrier hopped aboard the bus on Wednesday when it stopped on Dumbarton Road in the city’s west end.
    The dog, nicknamed Claus, was later taken to the Scottish SPCA’s animal rescue and rehoming centre in Glasgow.”
    http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50557000/jpg/_50557111_claus304.jpg
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-12068954
    *H/T AGW Progress Report.

  20. Aargh! Peter Schilling did a version of “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” on his “Error in the System” LP…but I can’t find any video / wav file on the internet-thingee so as to give you a taste.
    Perhaps Vίtruvius with his album collection has this?

  23. DrD: And they’re local! From Welland, Ontario, just 20 minutes up the 406. Merry Christmas, all. We’re going up to Mississauga to see my sister, then back here for the late services.

  25. Go to youtube and poke in “Silent Night original version at place of origin”. Although marred by an annoying commentary at the beginning, it records the original version from an 1820 manuscript: two tenors, guitar, and chorus; no text omitted.
    An even better version is on the Koch label (CD 313014 G1), a transfer of a 1978 vinyl recording. THIS IS THE BEST AVAILABLE. On the same CD are two more versions of Stille Nacht, both from manuscripts (Mohr and Gruber knew they had a hit on their hands, and so wrote two more versions).

  26. Wow, EBD, I didn’t know you were a musicologist! Your remarks are very enlightening. Mannheim Steamroller: I like their harmonies—but at home, relaxing, as you said. King’s College? I took it on trust (diminished, while I typed), as I’m quite partial to the cathedral style: I’ll have another listen. Thank you for the great picks this week. (And batb, I like the Crosby version too. It always makes me think of the snowy countryside, while our family was driving up to my sister’s place, when I’d sing along with Bing!)
    Yesterday, in the National Post, one of my favourite Canadian pundits (Law Professor Emeritus at Western), Ian Hunter, quoted part of John Betjemen’s poem, “Christmas”:
    “And is it true,
    This most tremendous tale of all,
    Seen in a stained-glass window’s hue,
    A Baby in an ox’s stall ?
    The Maker of the stars and sea
    Become a Child on earth for me ?
    “And is it true ? For if it is,
    No loving fingers tying strings
    Around those tissued fripperies,
    The sweet and silly Christmas things,
    Bath salts and inexpensive scent
    And hideous tie so kindly meant,
    “No love that in a family dwells,
    No carolling in frosty air,
    Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
    Can with this single Truth compare –
    That God was man in Palestine
    And lives today in Bread and Wine.”
    Christmas blessings to everyone here.

  28. (Ken, we had guests over last night, so, darn, we missed Mark Steyn! I’m really glad to see him getting such widespread recognition—on Hannity and Rush, among other American sites. The Canadian media? They virtually ignore Steyn. What ignoramuses. Canada’s loss.)

  31. Happy Holidays from a web hosting online help and their automated responder…then the real person kicked in…
    me: hopefully it will be worked out soon. cheers, merry christmas
    server: Thank you, Happy Holidays!
    server: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
    me: When is the holiday?
    server: We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
    me: ooooh, that’s a long holiday
    server: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
    me: cheers, merry christmas
    server: Thank you, Happy Holidays!
    server: Thank you for chatting with us. Please feel free to contact us at any time. We are available 24×7.
    me: when is the holiday?
    server: We do not have holiday.
    me: Oh that’s no good, when is my holiday then?
    server: I cannot say that.
    me: how can i have a happy one if you or i don’t know when it is? 😉

  32. Socialism’s AGW pwowns socialist Britain, France. etc.
    There may be snow on the roof; but, there is chaos down below.
    AGW Progress Report: Peak Chaos and left-union terrorists.
    Britain: “December set to be the coldest since 1890”.
    “To add to the misery, union militants announced cynically-timed strikes designed to hit the post-Christmas high street sales. They involve London Underground workers demanding ‘triple time’ bonuses, Northern Rail, which serves the North East, and Arriva Trains Wales.”
    France: Vive le Freeze Libre.
    (H/T De Gaulle)
    …-
    “Terminal at Paris airport evacuated because of snow”
    “Weather woes continue to disrupt travel plans for European air passengers, as snow on the roof forced officials to evacuate about 2,000 passengers from a terminal at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport Friday.
    Workers were dispatched to clear about two feet of now from the roof, British newspaper the Telegraph reported.
    A section of the roof collapsed in 2004, just weeks after the terminal opened, killing four travellers and injuring six others.
    Charles de Gaulle was full of passengers, as winter weather and depleting stores of the materials used to de-ice planes stranded about 5,000 travellers in the airport overnight.”
    http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/12/24/16665696.html
    …-
    “Christmas Day set to be the coldest ever with temperatures plummeting to MINUS 10 as getaway is marred by transport chaos”
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1341034/Return-ticket-chaos-Trains-axed-amid-Christmas-getaway–worse-way-strikes-planned-Boxing-Day.html

  33. I won’t have much time to say hi here over the next couple of days, so before I get to cooking the 12 meatless dishes (best meal of the year), I would like to wish Kate, Lance and everyone else here (yes, even Davenport and beagle) a Merry Christmas. Χристос Раждається!

  34. AtlanticJim, that was a great addition to the Christmas repertoire here. That would be a good movie for our collection. I always feel a little extra for the service guys during Christmas.
    Merry Christmas, Frohe Weihnachten, С Рождеством Христовым to all. (Hope I got these right)

  39. Moonbat’s AGW Progress Report: Not Weather Underground.
    There’s heat in that water, no? That’s where the warmistas hide the heat.
    It’s not fair.
    …-
    “Water temperature in pipes to homes reaches record low today (Friday)”
    “THE TEMPERATURE of water going to people’s homes today (Christmas Eve) from reservoirs in London and the Thames Valley is the coldest on record.
    According to Thames Water, due to sustained freezing weather since November, the water has cooled down to a “staggeringly chilly” 1.8 degrees Celsius – far below the comparatively balmy Christmas Eve average of 7.3 degrees.
    The previous coldest recorded December 24 water temperature was 4.9 degrees, in 2001.
    A spokeswoman for the company, Becky Johnson, said this was “a big problem” for Britain’s biggest water supplier.
    “Whenever water below five degrees Celsius enters the company’s 20,000-mile network of supply mains, there is always a marked increase in bursts and leaks,” said Ms Johnson.
    “This is because cold water makes the pipes, especially the century-old cast-iron ones, contract and this can make them break if there are hairline weaknesses.”
    At this time of year Thames Water would normally expect to receive 75 new leak reports a day but it is currently getting nearly 300.
    Jerry White, Thames Water’s head of operational control, sai it was the coldest start to a winter anyone at the company could remember, including staff with 40 years’ service.”
    http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?articleID=15480
    http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/12/24/snowfall-a-very-rare-and-exciting-event/#comment-558248

  40. To EBD, Vίt, Kate, fellow SDA alumni…
    A MERRY & HOLY CHRISTMAS SEASON!!
    PS. Christmas lasts till Jan. 6th with the three wise guys.
    Cheers
    Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
    1st Saint Nicolaas Army
    Army Group “True North”

  41. As the moon’s over the yard arm … or something …
    A Blessed and Joyous Christmas to everyone at SDA!
    (Is the baby Jesus safe and sound in his manger over at St. Paul’s Hospital?)

  43. My wife decided this year to give Turkey a break. I joked — totally forgetting Prine’s song — that maybe we could have a wooden one, or maybe a Tofu Turkey (heh, it’s Vancouver!).
    So wife, sings:
    It was Christmas in Prison
    And the food was real good
    We had turkey and pistols carved out of wood.
    This song which I absolutely LOVED had gone down the memory hole. Got it back:
    Christmas in Prison (original album cut)
    Later version with pix
    I find it achingly beautiful but am a bit shocked at how primitive his guitar work was. Just goes to show, what?

  44. bluetech
    I thought Spector would stick his foot in his mouth again, but who knew how far? And I knew that I`d find a link to the original through the good folks here.
    Merry Christmas!

  45. Son of Brian Tobin in Police custody in Ottawa.. accused of running over a friend in a parking garage and killing him.

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