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I<\/span>sn\u2019t it about time we started getting to know Christmas music a little better? No, we\u2019re not suggesting you spend the festive season listening to, say, Silent Night<\/i><\/a>\u2004or Once in Royal<\/i> <\/a>on continuous loop. We\u2019re talking about the huge number of works, great and small, that hardly ever get even a mention, let alone a performance.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Shouldn\u2019t we be welcoming back into the warmth some of those works that have long found themselves pushed out into cold, unloved and largely forgotten? It\u2019s not as if there\u2019s nothing out there.<\/span><\/p>\n Many of the finest composers have, over the centuries, applied their genius to festive works, but surprisingly few are widely known about. And let\u2019s be frank, here \u2013 do we really<\/i> need quite so many Messiah<\/i><\/a><\/strong>s every year? When it comes to the festive music scene, few other works come even close to challenging the domination of Handel<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s much-loved oratorio.<\/a><\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n Bach\u2019s Christmas Oratorio<\/i><\/a><\/strong> will doubtless get a few welcome run-outs this season, and the high-voices-with-harp combination of Britten<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Ceremony of Carols<\/i> is always guaranteed to pull in a crowd. If you\u2019re lucky, you may get to wallow in the pleasures of a Berlioz L\u2019enfance du Christ<\/i><\/a><\/strong> or a Sch\u00fctz Christmas Story<\/i> or two or, on a more intimate level, the intricate delights of Messiaen\u2019s Vingt regards sur l\u2019enfant-J\u00e9sus <\/i>for solo piano or his La Nativit\u00e9 du Seigneur<\/i> for organ. But, in terms of larger-scale Christmas works, that\u2019s pretty much it. <\/span><\/p>\n So, we asked BBC Music Magazine\u2019<\/i>s panel of experts to name the works that they believe deserve to be more familiar. They sent back a sackful of replies, with suggestions ranging from Liszt magnum opuses to charming Brahms trios. Below, we select our 12 favourites, one for each Day of Christmas, and five stocking-fillers to complete the yuletide scene. It\u2019s time to start exploring\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Renaissance great greets Christmas with an immaculately crafted choral gem<\/span><\/p>\n Palestrina\u2019s Missa Hodie Christus Natus Est<\/i> is a parody mass: namely, a reworking of an earlier motet of the same name. It was written in 1575, during Palestrina\u2019s second stint as choirmaster of St Paul\u2019s Basilica in Rome. The work is a wonderful example of poly-choral writing: Palestrina heightens the interaction between the two choirs by using contrasting voicing, one high choir, and one low. <\/span><\/p>\n Writing for two independent choirs in this manner was a relatively new practice: evidence that even late in his career Palestrina was still pushing boundaries. It is a truly special work, as expansive moments that rock seamlessly between the two choirs are contrasted with quicker dance-like sections. The mass\u2019s opening is identical to that of the motet, though sadly without the jolly antiphonal \u2018Noe\u2019 sections that follow in the original. <\/span><\/p>\n Recommended Recording:<\/b> The Sixteen\/Harry Christophers <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Coro COR16105<\/i> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nPalestrina:\u00a0 <\/span>Missa Hodie Christus Natus Est (1575)<\/i><\/span><\/h2>\n