My Favorite Christmas Music

December is the month when I start seriously training for the 3M Half Marathon, which is held at the end of January. That means getting up every morning at 6am to go running in the dark. While I am running, I like to listen to my favorite Christmas songs on my ipod. Here is what I am listening to.

1. Christmas Eve and Other Stories, The Trans-Siberian Orchestra (1996)

2. The Christmas Attic, The Trans-Siberian Orchestra (1998)

3. The Lost Christmas Eve, The Trans-Siberian Orchestra (2004)



I discovered the Trans-Siberian Orchestra by accident. I saw The Christmas Attic in a supermarket check out line and picked it up because it looked interesting. Since then, TSO has become a favorite part of my holiday celebration leading up to their annual concert in Austin.

The Trans-Siberian Orchestra has become a big phenomenon now, but their origins are obscure. They grew out of a heavy metal band called Savatage which tended to release concept albums. One of these, Dead Winter Dead, was about the civil war in Bosnia. It included a track called Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24), which was inspired by the story of a lone cellist playing Christmas music in the bombed out ruins of the city. The song combines elements of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Carol of the Bells in an almost martial fusion. The popularity of this one song led them to form a band which would bring together many different vocalists to perform an album of Christmas music. To date, they have released three Christmas albums, as well as the rock opera, Beethoven's Last Night.

TSO is a perfect fit for someone like me who grew up in the 1970s listening to bands like Kansas, Emerson, Lake and Palmer and the Moody Blues. Their music combines elements of heavy metal with classical music and traditional Christmas carols. Thus, it is both familiar and new.

Each album tells a story of loss and redemption at Christmas. Thus, in Christmas Eve and Other Stories, an angel hears the prayer of a father whose daughter has run away. With the help of the patrons of a neighborhood bar, the girl is returned to her family. In the Christmas Attic, a girl sifting through a trunk of Christmas memories learns the story of a successful business man who had drifted away from the one person he had loved. Finally, the Lost Christmas Eve is about a father who became bitter when his wife died in child birth and their son was born with severe brain damage. He gives the son up to an institution, but many years later on Christmas eve, he is drawn to find him again. He is surprised to find his son working in the neontal intensive care unit of a hospital rocking babies born to drug-addicted mothers to sleep. Finally, the bitter man sees the face of Jesus in his own son whom he had abandoned.

The music in these three albums ranges from whimsical to familiar to powerful. Some of my favorites are: "A Mad Russian's Christmas" (adapted from the Nutcracker), "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24," "Christmas Canon," "Wizards in Winter," "Queen of the Winter Night" (taken from Mozart) and "Wish Liszt" (obviously taken from Liszt). The songs can also be very throught-provoking. In "What Child is This?," the traditional carol is re-written in the context of a father who re-discovers his abandoned child and sees the face of Jesus in him. "This Christmas Day" asks the question "Are prayers just wishes in disguise?" before answering in the negative.

I come back to these songs time and time again because of the sheer artistry of the music, the depth of the music and the hope which shines throughout them.

4. Final Christmas of the 1990s, Ruslana (1999)

While the Trans-Siberian Orchestra may be popular in the United States, Ruslana is just as popular in Ukraine. We have friends in Ukraine, which is how I stumbled upon this beautiful record. There is something enchanting about hearing the familiar songs of Christmas sung in another language (in this case Ukrainian, with a little Latin thrown in). Hearing the songs through the filter of another tongue helps to show the universal quality of the songs and their message. Among the songs included are "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World" (which is translated as "Let the World Exalt." My favorite song is "Dobry Vechir Tobi," which is a traditional Ukrainian carol. The song starts out with a simple guitar and flute accompaniment, picks up the tempo when the drums kick in, then finishes with a chorus of voices singing with a pipe organ.



5. We Three Kings, The Roches (1994)

This album answers the biblical question, "Can anything good come from New Jersey?" The Roches are three sisters who sing together. This collection of Christmas carols is very enjoyable. The vocals are heavenly except for "Frosty the Snowman" when they intentionally let their native accents loose.

6. The Lost and Found Christmas Album, Lost and Found (1998)

Lost and Found is the first Lutheran super-group. They call their musical style speedwood, which is to say that it is acoustical music played in a speed metal fashion, although the raucous piano riffs are closer to boogie-woogie or blues. This is a raw, spontaneous collection of songs, described as what you would hear if you went caroling with the members of the group. Most of the songs on this album are traditional Christmas music played with non-traditional abandon. This is music for people who like to sing a little louder than usual and don't mind being slightly off-key on Christmas eve.

7. The Greatest Christmas Novelty CD of All Time, Dr. Demento (1989)

This is just plain silly--and if it's silly, it's on this CD. This covers the classics from "Grandma Got Run Over by a Raindeer" to "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth." It also contains some understandably obscure tunes, such as "Christmas at Ground Zero" and "Santa Claus and His Old Lady."