Best for old favourites All the Stars Looked Down/Rutter/Choir of King’s College, Cambridge (KCC)
This joyful 80th birthday tribute to the composer John Rutter – evergreen, go-to master of choral music – builds on his long association with the choir of King’s College, Cambridge. It offers a mix of the well-known – Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, O Come, All Ye Faithful – with Rutter’s now equally popular carols and arrangements: O Holy Night, All Bells in Paradise. The men and boys of the fabled college choir, with Britten Sinfonia, are directed by Daniel Hyde.
Best for novelty A Babe Is Born: Music for Christmas
(Resonus)
The nativity is told through 18 recent settings by today’s best choral composers, including Cecilia McDowall, Gabriel Jackson and Owain Park, with Grace-Evangeline Mason and Kerensa Briggs of the younger generation. James Whitbourn’s ecstatic Our Gold and Emily Hazrati’s Coventry Carol are among highlights, sung by St Martin’s Voices, directed by Andrew Earis.
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Best for repertoire O Holy Night/Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge
(Signum)
Now established as a mixed-voice choir, this is Cambridge college St John’s second album under director Christopher Gray. He maintains the choir’s practice of true variety: from early anonymous to Mendelssohn, Herbert Howells, John Rutter, Errollyn Wallen – her lovely Peace on Earth – and Jonathan Dove. The centrepiece is Poulenc’s Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël.
Top all-round choice Cuban Christmas/The Sarahbanda
(Deutsche Grammophon)
Sarah Willis, the inspirational French horn player, doubles as a member of the Berlin Philharmonic and a salsa aficionado. She is an important advocate of Cuban music and leads the Havana-based Sarahbanda in Cuban music for Christmas in this, their second album. Includes a cha-cha-cha White Christmas and Nutcracker to a Latin beat. You can’t sit still to this one.
Carols from the sofa Live from London (8 December to 6 January)
Voces8, The Little Song Party
In its 20th anniversary year, Voces8 and friends perform streamed concerts, including a new Christmas oratorio, Rose Ever Blooming by Jocelyn Hagen and Timothy C Takach, Handel’s Messiah, A Spanish Nativity sung by Stile Antico and other festive music from around the world. Tickets from £25. An ideal gift for anyone who enjoys quality concerts from home.
Photographs by Victor Cervantes/PR