Christmas Songs from St Thomas's Church

Christmas is just around the corner—and a desire for peace and reflection comes upon us. It is time to think again and to re-gather strength. In contrast to the noise and busy bustling of the Christmas markets and shopping centres, Christmas music helps evoke and support this contemplative atmosphere.

Every year, St Thomas’s Boys Choir sings an evening of Christmas music, their Weihnachtsliederabend, at St Thomas’s Church in Leipzig. Accompanied by Ullrich Böhme (organist at St Thomas) and under the direction of Georg Christoph Biller (cantor at St Thomas), the boys perform songs and motets which prepare the listeners for this time of peace and quietness. Many Leipzig citizens and visitors from all over the world begin their very own Christmas with the boys’ Weihnachtsliederabend.

The CD presents selections from the Weihnachtsliederabende in 2007 and 2008. Ranging from the prophetic foretelling of the coming of the Messiah to the Christmas joy of the congregation, the disc covers all facets of Advent-tide and Christmas music in well-known as well as in rarely performed compositions. Favourites such as O du fröhliche and Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht sound alongside settings by Max Reger, Erhard Mauersberger, and Johann Sebastian Bach. Wolfgang Hofmann’s motet Das Volk, das im Finstern wandelt receives its first recording on this disc with St Thomas’s Boys choir. The compilation gives the CD its special charm and makes it truly stunning!

Thomasorganist Ullrich Böhme
Thomanerchor Leipzig
Thomaskantor Georg Christoph Biller