Anonyme/Gotthold Frotscher (1897-1967)
Es blüh’n drei Rosen
Da droben auf dem Berge
Und unser lieben Frauen
Maria durch ein’n Dornwald ging

Anonyme
Maria auf dem Berge
Es wird schon gleich dunkel
Wiegenlied in der Weihnacht

Anonyme/Georg Winter
Schlaf, mein Kindelein

Anonyme/Heinrich Reimann (1850-1906)
Schlaf wohl, du Himmelsknabe du

Charlotte Kaufmann (20ème siècle)
Stille Nacht
Die Himmelsbotschaft ist erklungen

Anonyme (14ème siècle)/Albert Becker (1834-1899)
Joseph, lieber Joseph mein

Anonyme (16ème siècle)/Albert Becker (1834-1899)
Zu Bethlehem geboren

Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752-1814)
Christlied

Mark Lothar (1902-1985)
Das himmlische Menuett

Anonyme/Hermann Schroeder (1904-1984)
O Jesulein zart

Anonyme/Hans Chemin-Petit (1902-1981)
Kommt all herein, ihr Engelein
O Jesulein mild, o Jesulein zart
Lobt Gott, ihr Christen allzugleich
Gelobet seist du, Jesus Christ
Vom Himmel hoch, ihr Engel kommt
Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Ich steh’ an deiner Krippen hier (arr. H. Chemin-Petit)

Anonyme/ Herbert Baumann (1925-)
Ave Maria zart, du edler Rosengart

Anonyme/Rudolf Kühn
Süßer die Glocken nie klingen

Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Vom Himmel hoch (arr. R. Kühn)

Erna Berger, soprano
Elisabeth Grümmer, soprano
Margot Guilleaume, soprano
Ursula Lüders, soprano
Lisa Otto, soprano
Maria Reith, soprano
Rita Streich, soprano
Gunthild Weber, soprano
Josephine Varga, alto
Annelies Westen, alto
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baryton
Walther Ludwig, ténor
Orchestre de la radio de Berlin
Günther Arndt, direction
Fried Walter, direction
Hans Carste, direction

Producing atmospheric Christmas programmes in the 1950s fell into the remit of radio stations: records with festive music were not available during the early post-war years. For RIAS, the Berlin radio station under American control, the early 1950s were the heyday in this respect. Year after year, distinguished singers, including Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Rita Streich, Erna Berger, Elisabeth Grümmer and many others, were engaged to perform for these radio shows. This disc presents the impressive results of these recordings made between 1950 and 1964. Most carols on this disc are folksongs or folk-like. Their simple, catchy tunes, setting words from Martin Luther’s time through to the twentieth century, tell of naïve piety. Renowned composers and church musicians of the 1950s produced, mostly for such Christmas programmes, tasteful arrangements of these carols. The spectrum of arrangements on this disc stretches from sparing but emphatic lute dabs right up to the onomatopoeic expansion of orchestral sonorities which do not shy away from a nod towards Puccini. The fact that all these diverse Christmas offerings were produced without the slightest whiff of sentimentality is largely due to the performers who transformed these miniatures into little gems.