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Christmas Music Through The Ages With Our Favorite Elf

Here & Now‘s Robin Young catches up with “Mr. Christmas”: Ron Cohen, her former choir director at John F. Kennedy High School on Long Island. They listen to a selection of Christmas music from medieval times to the 20th century.

Music From The Segment

  • Isaac Watts, “Joy to the World,” performed by Robert Shaw, Robert Shaw Chorale and RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
  • Unknown, “O come, O come, Emmanuel,” performed by the John F. Kennedy High School Choir and Glad
  • Piae Cantiones, “Gaudete,” performed by The King’s Singers


[Youtube]

  • Tomás Luis de Victoria, “O Magnum Mysterium,” performed by the Robert Shaw Festival Singers
  • Johann Sebastian Bach, “Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light,” performed by Robert Shaw and The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
  • George Frideric Handel, “For Unto Us A Child Is Born,” performed by Marriner, Ameling, Reynolds, Langridge, Howell and the Academy and Chorus of St. Martin-in-the-fields
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, “Laudate Dominum,” performed by Renee Fleming


[Youtube]

  • Felix Mendelssohn, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” from It’s A Wonderful Life
  • Benjamin Britten, “This Little Babe,” performed by the Choir of King’s College (Cambridge)

[Youtube]

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