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Midwinter around the world
It’s that time of year . . .
BY DAVID WEININGER

Yes, we know — it’s the holiday season. We figure you’re already tired of hearing the pan-flute-and-harp version of "Away in the Manger" while you drag yourself through Department Store X trying to find something for Aunt Hilda that’s better than a scarf but less expensive than an iPod. We suspect, since you’re only human, that you’re ready to bury your head in a pillow and give up — on the present and the music. We understand.

Although it’s true that we can’t help you with Hilda, we know that deep down you’re really not ready to give up on holiday music. Especially this year, when the seasonal offerings around Boston have taken on an international flavor, offering the chance to hear some less recognizable selections amid the old favorites. So be not afraid: here are a few choice selections, in no particular geographical order.

Start the journey in Germany. Okay, to many it’s not exactly the home of Comfort and Joy, but it did produce some great Christmas music, including Michael Praetorius’s Es ist ein Ros entsprungen. The Handel and Haydn Society Chorus places that favorite in a fascinating landscape that includes the late Renaissance composer Joseph Fux, whose music is now scarcely ever performed. His Messa di San Carlo is on the bill, as are works by Schütz and Buxtehude. And carols, including the ever popular Stille Nacht. H&H gets some help from Trinity Church’s Handbell Ensemble; music director Grant Llewellyn leads the show. There are two performances at Jordan Hall (30 Gainsborough Street in Boston): December 16 at 8 p.m. and December 19 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $30 to $60; call (617) 266-3605.

Those of you who dream of warmer climes at this time of year may be more at home with the Boston Camerata, since it’s reviving its 1980 program "A Mediterranean Christmas," which celebrates the holiday with chants, songs, and instrumental pieces from southern Europe. This time around, the Camerata is leavening that with bits from 2002’s "Cantigas," which explored the mediæval culture of Spain through Muslim, Christian, and Jewish traditions. Joel Cohen, the Camerata’s enthusiastically intrepid music director, conducts. Besides the usual gigs in Boston (December 16 at 8 p.m. at the Church of the Covenant, 67 Newbury Street) and Cambridge (December 17 at 8 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 11 Garden Street in Harvard Square), there are a couple of concerts for you suburbanites, too: December 15 at 8 at Wellesley Congregational Church, 2 Central Street in Wellesley, and December 19 at 3 at Hancock United Church, 1912 Massachusetts Avenue in Lexington. Tickets run $22 to $42; call (866) 427-2092.

Move a bit north and you land in France, which is where Chorus pro Musica’s holiday concert is centered. Francis Poulenc’s sweetly elusive Christmas motets are on the bill, as are traditional French carols and brass chorales. Performances are December 17 at 8 p.m. and December 19 at 3 p.m. at Old South Church in Copley Square. Tickets are $20 to $40, and children under 12 are admitted free to Sunday’s concert; call (617) 267-7442.

Speaking of brass: Musica Sacra presents a program of music for chorus and brass that, centering on Venice, includes not only Giovanni Gabrieli’s Magnificat but works by German composers like Samuel Scheidt who were influenced by the Venetian Baroque sound. Also on the concert is the first Boston performance of A Mary Trilogy, by the legendary American choral conductor Gregg Smith. That’s at 8 p.m. on December 18 at the First Congregational Church in Cambridge, and tickets are $20 to $40; call (617) 349-3400.

But it wouldn’t be the holiday season without Handel’s Messiah, whether it properly belongs here or at Easter. Where do you locate this ultra-iconic holiday work? Germany, the place of Handel’s birth? England, where he lived much of his life? Or maybe the strains of "Comfort ye" take you back to Fishamble Street in Dublin, where Messiah premiered in 1742. The truth is that, as overplayed as it is, it’s still so damn good that it belongs to whatever season and place you happen to be experiencing it. As is its wont every year, Boston Baroque offers two welcome performances, on December 17 and 18 at 8 p.m. in Jordan Hall, with Martin Pearlman at the helm. Tickets are $22 to $57; call (617) 484-9200.


Issue Date: December 10 - 16, 2004
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