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Best Christmas Choir Orchestra Songs 2026🎄 Best Christmas Carols 2026 🎁
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The BEST Mantovani Christmas Experience performed by The New Light Symph...
Welcome to The Mantovani Experience
Step into a world where timeless melodies and cascading strings transport you back to music's golden era. We celebrate the legendary #Mantovani and his Orchestra's iconic "echoing strings" sound, faithfully recreated by The New Light Symphony Orchestra.
If you cherish the sophisticated elegance of light orchestral music—those lush arrangements that once filled concert halls and living rooms worldwide—this is your destination. Each performance captures Mantovani's signature "cascading strings" technique, that distinctive sound that made him one of the most successful orchestra leaders of all time.
Our mission is simple: preserve and share the beauty of light orchestral music with those who remember its magic and introduce it to new generations. From beloved standards to forgotten gems, we're recreating the authentic Mantovani sound with meticulous attention to every nuance.
Directed by Philip Cacayorin | Producer dedicated to vintage audio excellence
Explore our journey and production background at www.3dvinyl.com
Subscribe today and rediscover why #MantovaniAndHisOrchestra remains the gold standard of light orchestral music. Let the echoing strings wash over you once again.
The BEST Mantovani Christmas Experience performed by The New Light Symphony Orchestra
Two Pianos as a Home Orchestra
by Maureen Buja
Gustav Holst
By the 1920s, much of this home music-making had been supplanted by the home radio. Recordings also became available, and with a record player, you could have your own orchestra in your drawing room.
In the early 20th century, however, the piano still held sway, and in this new recording by the piano duo of Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman, one major work by Gustav Holst and two by Edward Elgar are presented. The transcriptions of Holst’s The Planets, Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro, and the Salut d’Amour give us something back of music in the home.
Gustav Holst’s suite for large orchestra, The Planets, brought Holst’s name into the spotlight. Although admired by his musical friends, few others knew of this Cheltenham-born composer.
The original layout of The Planets was for two pianos, and it was only orchestrated later. Holst suffered from neuritis, an inflammation of the nervous system, and it was easier for him to compose for two pianos than work through a large symphonic score.
With the success of the orchestral version, particularly in a time when astrology and the study of the stars were in fashion, Holst’s two-piano version was set aside and only published some 30 years after the orchestral premiere.
In the two-piano version, the big works, such as Mars, seem too light, but the lighter movements, such as Venus, The Bringer of Peace or Neptune, The Mystic, come across beautifully. One of the particularly good movements in the two-piano version is the flight of Mercury, The Winged Messenger.
Gustav Holst: The Planets – III. Mercury, The Winged Messenger (Ben Schoeman, Tessa Uys pianos)
Edward Elgar
The other English composer who rose from relative obscurity to international fame was Edward Elgar. As in the case of Holst, the piano transcriptions of Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro, and the Salut d’Amour have largely been ignored with the greater fame of their orchestral versions. Whereas Holst made his transcriptions as part of his compositional process, Elgar’s works were done by other hands. Introduction and Allegro was transcribed by Otto Singer II, who made his name with his piano transcriptions of Bruckner’s symphonies. Introduction and Allegro (1905) was written for the string section of the London Symphony Orchestra, with Elgar conducting the premiere.
The second Elgar work, Salut d’Amour, originally entitled Liebesgruß (Love’s Greeting) but retitled in French by Elgar’s German publishers, was a wedding present to his fiancée, Caroline Alice Roberts. Their marriage in 1889 was done with her family’s disapproval, but proved to be a love-match in all the good ways. This melody is probably the most famous of Elgar’s light works, and in his publisher’s catalogue were some 25 different arrangements for all manner of ensembles.
Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman, piano duo
The two-piano format made important orchestral works accessible for home consumption. In the case of these three works, which are far better known in their orchestral versions, we can hear both the advantages of the genre and some of its limitations.
Holst: The Planets / Elgar: Introduction and Allegro, Salut d’Amour
Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman, piano duo
SOMM Recordings: SOMMCD 0709
Official Website
“The Fantastic Whirl of Destiny” Ravel’s La Valse
What is Ravel’s La Valse about? Is it a portrait of the disintegration of decadent pre-First War Europe, the dying embers of the Belle Epoque? Or simply a rollicking dance, a sensuous hommage to the Viennese Waltz?
Viennese Waltz
But by 1919 everything had changed, the composer himself profoundly affected by his wartime experiences. Vienna was a city shattered by war, in the grip of famine, and the waltz a bitter, poignant reminder of a vanished era. The impresario Sergei Diagheilev requested Ravel write La Valse, but it wasn’t the work he expected and he refused to stage it, claiming it was “not a ballet” but “a portrait of a ballet”. Ravel published the piece as a “choreographic poem for orchestra”, and the first performance of the orchestral version was in December 1920 in Paris. The work was eventually danced in Antwerp in 1926 by Ida Rubenstein’s troupe (which also premiered Ravel’s Bolero).
Ravel: La Valse
Maurice Ravel
But Ravel denied the work had any symbolic meaning, describing it as “a dancing, whirling, almost hallucinatory ecstasy, an increasingly passionate and exhausting whirlwind of dancers, who are overcome and exhilarated by nothing but ‘the waltz.’”
***
Ravel transcribed the orchestral version for two pianos and piano solo, and the very first performance of the work was actually given in its two-piano form, with Ravel as one of the performers.
Here a pianist friend of mine, who plays in a piano duo, reflects on the experience of learning and performing La Valse:
“Learning the two-piano version of La Valse was a treat. When Neil first suggested that we learn La Valse, I thought it might be beyond us, but we both worked hard at our parts over several months, and to our amazement it gradually came together…
As for performing La Valse, the orchestral version is of course familiar from many recordings and concerts, and in the back of one’s mind is the sound of the different instruments in Ravel’s orchestration. At first I felt very conscious of how the cellos and double basses, the two harps, the brass, or the woodwind, would sound at different points in the score.
But in fact as a pianist, you can enjoy being yourself in this music, without needing to mimic an orchestra all the time: the richness of Ravel’s two-piano sound provides plenty of tonal palette to work with, and much of the pleasure of learning the piece was learning to exploit to the full the contrasts in sound that one can achieve. We enjoyed the challenge of handing melodies from one piano to the other, trying to make the dynamics merge seamlessly between two instruments, learning to be really hushed and mysterious, or hushed and threatening, and conjuring the lilt of the Viennese waltz rhythm.
The final few pages certainly are extraordinary, as the waltz music seems to disintegrate into fragments and accelerates towards a wild climax. As a pair of pianists, you have to hold your nerve, and careful preparation was really essential to be confident that our parts would really fit together and not fall to bits. It was a balance between being accurate and careful, but somehow also letting caution fly to the winds to convey a sense of whirling excitement. In fact, of course, as so often in piano music, the trick was to be really on top of the part, so that you just knew that it would work every time: then you could remain calm and in control, but grasping the music with determination and energy so that the audience felt gripped and excited, not us!”. Julian Davis
“Through whirling clouds, waltzing couples may be faintly distinguished. The clouds gradually scatter: one sees […] an immense hall peopled with a whirling crowd. The scene is gradually illuminated. The light of the chandeliers bursts forth […]. Set in an imperial court, about 1855.” Maurice Ravel
Whatever one’s interpretation of La Valse, there is no doubt Ravel masterfully achieves his vision in the music.
How Much Does He/She Love: Too Much!
In the classic Christmas counting carol, The 12 Days of Christmas, on the 12 days following Christmas, the singer’s ‘true love’ sends him a present each day, plus the present from the day(s) before.
The Twelve Days of Christmas song poster © Wikipedia
The 12 Days of Christmas are the 12 days between the birth of Jesus and the appearance of the Magi, with their kingly-level gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. The present-giving begins on Christmas and continues through to 6 January, traditionally Three Kings’ Day or the Epiphany.
The song first appears in the late 18th century in a book called Mirth With-Out Mischief and is part of a long tradition of memory games and cumulative songs. If you don’t remember the order correctly, you have to pay a forfeit – a kiss or a small present – for your error.
On the first day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
a partridge in a pear tree.
Day 2: two turtle doves
Day 3: three French hens
Day 4: four calling birds
Day 5: five gold rings
Day 6: six geese a-laying
Day 7: seven swans a-swimming
Day 8: eight maids a-milking
Day 9: nine ladies dancing
Day 10: 10 lords a-leaping
Day 11: 11 pipers piping
Day 12: 12 drummers drumming
The list was set to many different melodies in its early days, but the melody we are most familiar with dates from the early 20th century, when the English baritone singer and composer Frederic Austin set the words, adding his own touch – the long cadence on 5 gold rings. Austin wrote that this was the setting that was familiar to his family, and he hadn’t heard that melody elsewhere. The song was published in 1909 and lives on today.
Frederic Austin, 1907
Days 1 through 7 are all about birds: a partridge, turtle doves, French hens, and calling birds or colly birds (blackbirds) in some versions. The five gold rings could also refer to ring-necked pheasants, followed by geese and swans.
On day 8, the staff shows up: milkmaids, dancing ladies, leaping lords, pipers, and drummers, although no one appears to be dealing with all the birds!
Whew!
A bank in the US has tracked the prices of all of these presents for the past 40 years, and they make interesting and funny reading. For 2023, your daily cost for being the True Love comes out to:
| 1 Partridge in a Pear Tree | The price of partridges has remained stable, but the pear tree is now up nearly 14% in price | $319.18 |
| 2 Turtle Doves | 25% leap in price, the greatest of all the gifts | $750.00 |
| 3 French hens | Labour and energy were the price drivers here, but they remain the most affordable of the birds | $330.00 |
| 4 Calling birds | No change in price for many years! | $599.96 |
| 5 Gold Rings | Price on gold has remained unchanged for the past 5 years | $1,245.00 |
| 6 Geese a Laying | Up by 8.3% | $780.00 |
| 7 Swans a Swimming | No price change, but one of the most expensive birds in any case | $13,125.00 |
| 8 Maids a milking | Payment at the US Federal Minimum Wage makes them most affordable | $58.00 |
| 9 Ladies Dancing | After a 10% raise in 2022, no change for 2023 | $8,308.12 |
| 10 Lords a Leaping | EXPENSIVE! Even more than the swans and up 4% from last year | $14,539.20 |
| 11 Pipers Piping | Slight 6.2% rise in piper cost because of the tight labour market | $3,207.38 |
| 12 Drummers Drumming | Same rise as the pipers: 6.2% | $3,468.02 |
Illustration of “five gold rings”, from the first known publication of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” (1780) © Wikipedia
What does that all add up to? Well, if you’re giving just one each of everything this year, that’s only $46,729.86 in presents, a rise of only 2.7% over last year’s figure.
If you’re doing the full measure, which would be 12 partridges, 22 turtle doves, 30 French hens, etc., for a total of 364 presents, you’re at over $1.5 million for 12 days of fun. $1,535,405.64, to be exact.
It’s expensive to be whimsical!
The presents total 364, presumably so you have a breathing day before next Christmas when it starts all over again. Starts again, that is, if your love is still speaking to you after having to deal with all those presents from last year!
Merry Christmas!
Hector Berlioz (Born on December 11, 1803) and the Literary Muse
August Prinzhofer: Hector Berlioz, 1845
Berlioz’s music is dramatic, colourful, and intensely expressive, often telling stories or painting emotions so vividly they seem to leap off the page. What makes him truly fascinating is the way literature fuelled his imagination.
Writers like Goethe, Shakespeare, and Byron weren’t just influences; they were companions on his artistic journey, inspiring him to explore new forms of musical storytelling and to transform emotion into sound.
To celebrate his birthday on 11 December 1803, let’s explore how these three literary giants shaped his work, and why Berlioz’s music continues to captivate audiences nearly two centuries later.
When Words Inspired Music
Hector Berlioz
Berlioz grew up during a time when Romanticism was changing the way people thought about art, literature, and music. Romanticism celebrated emotion, imagination, individuality, and the dramatic aspects of life and nature. For Berlioz, literature wasn’t just something to read; it was the spark for musical ideas.
He devoured works from German, English, and French authors, letting their stories, characters, and emotions seep into his mind. In his music, he didn’t just set words to notes but translated the spirit of literature into sound.
Three writers stand out as especially important. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, William Shakespeare, and Lord Byron each offered something unique. Goethe provided psychological insight, Shakespeare inspired dramatic spectacle, and Byron fuelled passionate intensity. These authors helped to shape Berlioz’s bold and innovative musical voice.
Goethe’s Psychology
Joseph Karl Stieler: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe at age 79, 1828 (Neue Pinakothek)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) fascinated Berlioz with his exploration of human emotion and inner conflict. Goethe’s works often delve into moral dilemmas, personal struggles, and the tension between desire and duty, topics that Berlioz found irresistible.
He was captivated by Goethe’s Faust, with its intense psychological depth and exploration of temptation, ambition, and redemption. In his dramatic legend La Damnation de Faust, the orchestra becomes an extension of Faust’s inner world.
From the brooding tension of Faust’s introspective moment to the fiery intensity of his devilish encounters, the music mirrors the constant struggle between desire and conscience. Melodic motifs reappear throughout the work as Berlioz transforms Goethe’s complex psychological landscape into a living and breathing musical experience.
Just as Goethe blended narrative, reflection, and dialogue in his plays, Berlioz created music where instruments, voices, and motifs interact like characters in a drama. His attention to detail, mood, and pacing reflects Goethe’s meticulous craftsmanship, proving that literature and music can be deeply intertwined.
Shakespearean Drama
William Shakespeare
If Goethe shaped Berlioz’s inner emotional world, William Shakespeare (1564–1616) inspired his sense of drama and theatricality. Shakespeare’s plays are full of vivid characters, intense emotion, and unexpected twists, all qualities Berlioz sought to bring into music.
Berlioz’s opera Béatrice et Bénédict (1862), based on Much Ado About Nothing, puts the feisty, witty Béatrice and the clever Bénédict at its centre, showing how Shakespeare’s sharp characterisation and playful tension could be transformed into musical drama. Berlioz captures the characters’ personalities, their banter, and the slow-burning romance between them, turning Shakespeare’s comic brilliance into a vivid operatic experience.
In this opera, Berlioz also applies the pacing and tension of Shakespearean drama, making each scene feel like a self-contained story within the larger narrative. The characters are not simply singing; they are living, breathing, and reacting with all the emotional nuance Shakespeare endowed them with.
And just as Shakespeare occasionally introduced supernatural or fantastical elements into his plays, Berlioz infused his music with a sense of imagination and theatricality. In Béatrice et Bénédict, it is Shakespeare’s combination of clever wit, lively romance, and human depth that Berlioz channels to create an opera that feels both intimate and theatrically engaging.
Byron’s Passion
Lord Byron
Lord Byron (1788–1824) added another layer to Berlioz’s artistic vision. Byron’s poetry was full of intense emotion, larger-than-life heroes, and struggles against fate or society. Berlioz, who was drawn to extreme emotions and dramatic narratives, found in Byron a perfect literary model.
Berlioz was particularly inspired by Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage and Manfred. The brooding, tormented heroes in these works mirror the intensity found in Berlioz’s music.
The protagonist’s inner turmoil, moral struggles, and encounters with supernatural forces echo the Byronic hero’s emotional and existential battles.
Byron encouraged Berlioz to embrace boldness, not just in story but in music itself. The sweeping melodies, dramatic dynamics, and daring orchestration in Berlioz’s works can be seen as musical equivalents of Byron’s passionate poetry.
Orchestra as Storyteller
Caricature of Hector Berlioz conducting the orchestra
What makes Berlioz extraordinary is how he translated these literary influences into music. He didn’t simply set texts to notes; he absorbed the ideas and emotions from literature and expressed them through orchestration, harmony, and form.
The idée fixe, the recurring musical theme representing the beloved in the Symphonie fantastique, acts like a literary motif, threading through the narrative and expressing obsession, longing, and despair.
The music tells a story in a way only Berlioz could speak. In his operas and choral works, the orchestra itself becomes a storyteller, painting scenes and moods with remarkable clarity.
Berlioz’s engagement with literature also allowed him to challenge traditional musical structures. Rather than strictly following classical symphonic forms, he let the narrative and emotion dictate the music’s shape, creating works that feel organic, dynamic, and profoundly human.
Crossing Disciplines
Berlioz’s deep literary connections helped redefine what music could do. He showed that orchestral and operatic works could not only entertain but also convey complex psychology, moral dilemmas, and vivid drama.
Later composers, from Wagner to Mahler, would build on this idea, but Berlioz was among the first to fully realise it in the Romantic era.
His example also demonstrates the power of artistic cross-pollination. Literature and music are often taught as separate disciplines, but for Berlioz, they were inseparable.
By translating the spirit of Goethe, Shakespeare, and Byron into sound, he created music that is intellectually stimulating, emotionally compelling, and endlessly imaginative.
Literature, Passion, and Musical Brilliance
As we approach Hector Berlioz’s birthday on December 11, it’s a perfect time to celebrate not only his genius but the literary forces that inspired it. Goethe offered insight into the human heart, Shakespeare brought drama and theatricality, and Byron fuelled passion and Romantic heroism.
Berlioz took these influences and transformed them into a musical language that speaks directly to our emotions, telling stories with a vividness that few composers have matched.
Nearly two centuries later, his music still surprises, excites, and moves audiences around the world. It is a testament to the power of literature, imagination, and the unique genius of a man who could hear the poetry of words and turn it into unforgettable sound.
Seven of the Best Musical Instrument Museums Around the World
Whether it’s a violin crafted by Stradivari, a clavichord from the Baroque era, or a grand piano once played by Chopin, musical instrument museums offer a tangible connection to what can feel like a very intangible art form.
Here are seven of the most fascinating musical instrument museums in the world.
1. Musée de la Musique (Paris, France)
Official website: https://philharmoniedeparis.fr/en/musee-de-la-musique
Musée de la Musique
The Musée de la Musique’s origins date back to the French Revolution, when instruments were gathered from the estates of fleeing aristocrats and given to the Paris Conservatory.
The collection continued to grow over the generations. In 1978, the holdings were transferred from the conservatory to the government.
The first museum spotlighting these instruments opened in 1997. When the Philharmonie de Paris was opened in 2015, the collection was moved into the complex.
Today, the collection numbers over 8,000 items, showcasing musical treasures from the Renaissance to the twentieth century.
When you visit, don’t miss:
- Stradivari’s only surviving pochette (a small stringed instrument)
- The 1708 “Davidoff” and 1716 “Provigny” Stradivari violins
- The 1742 “Alard” Guarneri del Gesù violin
- An octobass
- Early instruments by the inventor of the saxophone, Adolphe Sax
- Pianos played by Liszt and Chopin
2. Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) (Phoenix, Arizona, USA)
Official website: https://mim.org/
Musical Instrument Museum (MIM)
Former Target CEO Bob Ulrich retired in 2008. Two years later, he founded the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix.
The collection has grown to 15,000 instruments in a $250 million building. Their goal is to collect instruments from every country in the world; currently, they have instruments from over two hundred.
The museum is designed with different sections for different areas of the world. In the European portion of the museum, there are a number of instruments used to play classical music.
The museum hosts nearly 300 concerts a year in its 300-seat auditorium.
3. Galleria dell’Accademia (Florence, Italy)
Official website: https://www.galleriaaccademiafirenze.it/en/
Galleria dell’Accademia
This museum is best known as the home of Michelangelo’s David, but the building also features an extraordinary collection of musical instruments.
The Galleria dell’Accademia was founded in 1784 by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II. In 1873, the sculpture David was moved from an outdoor location to the Galleria, making it a prime tourist attraction.
Much later, in 2001, the instrument museum opened. It includes roughly fifty instruments owned by the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, the Medici family, and the Lorraine family.
This collection includes a tenor viola by Stradivari, a piano by Cristofori (the first piano maker), harpsichords, wind instruments, and even percussion instruments.
There are also paintings of the Medici family with their musicians and stringed instruments.
4. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, USA)
Official website: https://www.metmuseum.org/departments/musical-instruments
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Tucked within one of the world’s most famous art museums is a stunning musical instrument sub-collection.
This collection began in 1880, just ten years after the founding of the museum, with a handful of ancient instruments.
In 1889, a woman named Mary Elizabeth Adams Brown donated nearly three hundred instruments. Over the following decades, she continued collecting them on behalf of the museum. By 1918, the year she died, the museum had acquired over 3500 instruments.
In 2019, the Met opened a remodeled musical instrument gallery. It features six hundred instruments: viols, lutes, wind instruments, string instruments, and more.
The crown jewel of the collection is the earliest known surviving piano, an instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori, dating from 1720.
5. Musikinstrumenten-Museum (Berlin, Germany)
Official website: https://www.museumsportal-berlin.de/en/museums/musikinstrumenten-museum/
Musikinstrumenten-Museum
This collection was founded in 1888 and contains around 3000 musical instruments. Its European instruments date from the sixteenth century to the present day.
The museum features harpsichords, spinets, flutes, and other instruments played by musical royals like Queen Sophie-Charlotte of Prussia and Frederick II.
The website also advertises: “The collection of Naumburg wind instruments, the almost complete instrumentarium of a central German town pipe workshop from around 1600, is outstanding.”
One of the most famous instruments in the collection is the “Mighty Wurlitzer” organ, which has 1228 pipes, making it one of the biggest instruments of its kind in Europe. It also features sound effects like birdsong, thunder, sirens, and more.
6. The National Music Museum (Vermillion, South Dakota, USA)
Official website: https://www.nmmusd.org/
The National Music Museum
The National Music Museum was founded in 1973 on the campus of the University of South Dakota in Vermillion (current population: 11,700). Despite the small size of Vermillion, the NMM has become one of the great musical instrument museums in the world.
The museum’s collection began with Arne B. Larson, who was born in Minnesota in 1904. He grew up to become a piano tuner, teacher, and collector. In 1966, he was hired by the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, and he brought his massive musical instrument collection with him.
Highlights of the collection include the earliest surviving grand piano from France (dating from 1781), a virginal from ca. 1520, hundreds of historical band instruments, and a collection of stringed instruments by Stradivari, Amati, Andrea Guarneri, and others. They also own one of the only two surviving Stradivari mandolins.
7. The Cobbe Collection (East Clandon, UK)
Official website: https://www.cobbecollection.co.uk/
The Cobbe Collection
The Cobbe Collection is one of the most remarkable assemblies of historic instruments in the world, and it exists in an eighteenth-century English country house in Surrey.
The setting adds to the atmosphere: visitors can see these instruments in elegant vintage rooms, much as they would have appeared in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Many of the instruments were played by major composers. Highlights of the collection include several pianos that Chopin played while traveling in England, as well as pianos that once belonged to Elgar, Mahler, and even Marie Antoinette!
Conclusion
Whether you’re a professional musician or just a listener who loves music, these museums offer a rare chance to get up close with the instruments that helped shape classical music history.
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