SOUNDTRACK: CHRISTMAS AT DOWNTON ABBEY (2014).
We enjoyed Downton Abbey quite a lot, so it seemed natural to get the Christmas CD collection. Well, it turns out you don’t need to have any appreciation of the TV show to enjoy this CD.
Aside from the opening Downton theme, everything else on the disc is a traditional British Christmas carol–secular and non-secular.
But it’s not an awkward cast recording. There are a couple of cast members who sing, but they were known for the singing already:
Julian Ovenden who played Charles Blake sings a lot of songs. Ovenden has sung musical theater with many orchestras. His voice is great. Elizabeth McGovern, who played Cora, has also had a singing career. Between them, they sing six songs–all classic carols.
The rest of the album features The King’s College Choir Of Cambridge on fourteen songs and Kiri Te Kanawa who sings 6 songs. There is more classical instrumental (and not) music that fills out this 2 CD set (45 tracks in all).
It’s not to say that there is no connection to the show. Jim Carter (Mr Carson) recites ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas over some music. It’s quite lovely and he has a great voice for recitation.
As far as tie-ins to TV shows go, this one is fantastic.
But if you like old-fashioned Christmas carols, this is a great album for Christmas.
[READ: December 18, 2018] “Strategies Against Sleeping”
Once again, I have ordered The Short Story Advent Calendar. This is my third time reading the Calendar (thanks S.). I never knew about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh). Here’s what they say this year
Fourth time’s the charm.
After a restful spring, rowdy summer, and pretty reasonable fall, we are officially back at it again with another deluxe box set of 24 individually bound short stories to get you into the yuletide spirit.
The fourth annual Short Story Advent Calendar might be our most ambitious yet, with a range of stories hailing from eight different countries and three different originating languages (don’t worry, we got the English versions). This year’s edition features a special diecut lid and textured case. We also set a new personal best for material that has never before appeared in print.
Want a copy? Order one here.
Like last year I’m pairing each story with a holiday disc from our personal collection.
I loved the way that this story (translated from the Spanish by Miranda France) started as one thing and slowly turned into something else entirely.
Señora Eloísa was in a car getting driven back home. She was very tired from her travels and wished to just close her eyes and let the soothing engine noise take her away. She was on the verge of sleep several times, but the driver of the car kept pressing her to stay awake.
She felt compelled to make small talk with the driver, but regretted it instantly. She felt she had given away too much information. So when he asked if he could smoke, she allowed allowed it as an act of consiliation. She regretted not taking the coach.
The driver kept saying how happy he was to have someone to talk to. He himself was quite tired having not slept very well the night before and he felt that she was keeping him awake. “Please talk to me” he said.
She talked about the rain and then about an essay she wrote once. It had to do with beggars–about which she clearly knew very little. She wrote in her essay that rain was a blessing for beggars–since they live under a blazing sun all day long, they must love the rain.
Even with this, whenever she paused she heard “Please talk to me.” Annoyed, she pressed on.
She told the story of a woman, possibly a beggar but possibly not–she did have on nice clothes, anyone could see. The woman was standing in the middle of a traffic jam in the heat. Señora Eloísa’s husband didn’t see the woman but Señora Eloísa couldn’t take her eyes off of her standing in the street with that heavy baby .
She hadn’t mention the baby at first and the driver was puzzled. She snapped that of course she had mentioned the baby. She then proceeded to admonish the driver and her (absent) husband for not understanding how hard it is to carry a heavy baby in the heat.
As the driver trues to change the subject, she quickly pulls it back to the heavy baby and the story suddenly changes into something else entirely.
This was a strange story to be sure, and there’s a lot there for one to unpack.
To learn more about this piece, here’s a Q&A with Liliana Heker.
Read Full Post »
S. and I love Guster and will see them as often as we can. They are a fantastic live band. So when they announced a show on a very special day for us, we were especially excited–and even imagined requesting a shout out.
I Just Read About That... 