Leah Crocetto's Top Five: Music for Christmas
In this exclusive playlist, Grammy-Award winning soprano Leah Crocetto shares her Top 5 favorite holiday tracks that inspire her love of the Christmas season.
Read more…Christmastime is my favorite time of year! Family, friends, twinkling lights, snow, and lots of new memories are enough reasons to love it, but music makes everything even more special. The classical world has some of the most beautiful moments in Christmas music, so this year I created a special Christmas playlist for IDAGIO featuring my personal favorites.
1. ORA Singers - ‘O Magnum Mysterium’
This song personifies peace. It speaks about the birth of Christ from the sacred feminine perspective, affirming no creature is too lowly to appreciate the birth of the Savior. What a gift!
2. Jessye Norman - ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’
This piece is one of the most beautiful sounds you’ll ever hear. The sheer elegance of her legato and use of text is truly a present to all of us.
3. Leontyne Price - ‘Sweet Little Jesus Boy’
Listening to the purity of this spectacular woman’s voice, unencumbered, is a spiritual experience. You can hear every nuance, every ounce of soul and spirit pour out of her mouth.
4. Jerry Hadley with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chorus - ‘Comfort Ye, Comfort Ye My People’ by G. F. Handel
Handel’s Messiah was a constant in our home growing up, and it remains in my playlist as an adult. ‘Comfort Ye’ is one of the moments which speaks the most to me. The tenor solo comes from stillness and reminds us we can all take comfort in the Savior. Such comfort is always a welcome feeling at this time of year. The sweet, rich full-timbre and moving melancholy of Jerry Hadley’s performance speak deeply to my heart.
5. Luciano Pavarotti - ‘Panis Angelicus’
Breaking bread and communing is the precise meaning of ‘Panis Angelicus’. It is also perhaps the most beautiful vocal sound ever recorded. If Christmas had to be a song, it would be this one.
This holiday season I wish you all break bread with the people you love and care for whether family, chosen family or even strangers. People need people, and I pray you all feel love and care this season and beyond.