Rejoice

We are officially in Advent, the period before Christmas that does not involve shopping, eating, standing in lines or moaning about how you’re not ready for the holidays. Advent is the time for getting ready, for preparing for the arrival of the baby in Bethlehem.

For me, a good part of that preparation involves light and music, so this year I thought I’d share some of the latter with you. We’ll take it easy—one piece of Christmas-related music per day.

And let’s start with the ultimate Advent carol, “Veni, veni, Emmanuel”. It dates from way back, you know—before monks started cutting CDs.

I used to sing in a choir in San Diego whose director always had the men sing the first verse in unison (like monks chanting) and let the women come in on the chorus. It was glorious.

However, I can’t find any version that does that, so I’ll give you the King’s Singers. It’s pretty good.