When opera greats sing silly Christmas songs

Classical music lovers go bonkers for Christmas music — so it's only natural that the opera greats would release albums of seasonal favorites.

By and large, singers who are classically trained and famed for their powerful interpretations of the standard repertoire lean on the great composers for their holiday albums — but it's hard to resist the temptation to slip in one or two secular songs as well. For those of us who like to see singers let their hair down, that's where the fun begins.

Bryn Terfel dons a turtleneck and scarf — the preferred business-casual look of the classical music establishment — for the cover of his 2010 release Carols and Christmas Songs. On the tracks, he largely keeps the mood reverent, drawing heavily on traditional tunes from his native Wales. Then, suddenly...he goes calypso.

"Mary's Boy Child" was written by Jester Hairston in 1956, and popularized by Harry Belafonte. It also became a massive hit in a 1978 disco version by the group Boney M. How does Terfel pull it off? Well, there's probably a reason he hasn't followed Carols and Christmas Songs with Bryn's Steel Drum Serenade.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Renée Fleming spent her Christmas in New York last year. She gives us a few somber tunes like In the Bleak Midwinter just to let us know she hasn't forgotten what happened to her lover's head in Salome, but most of the album is on the sprightlier side.

I especially enjoy Fleming's take on a vibe-laden arrangement of "The Man with the Bag": she constantly sounds she's on the verge of either busting out with her full-on opera voice (she reins it in with just a little Shakira-style croakiness) or else starting to scat. She's a pro, though, and makes it through the bouncy tune largely unscathed.

You knew we weren't going to get through this feature without hearing from at least one, possibly two of the Three Tenors. Let's start with Jose Carreras, whose 1990 collection Merry Christmas you can find in two separate editions — one with Carreras in a suede jacket, the other featuring a natty bowtie/sweater combo.

Carreras's "Jingle Bells" is a dynamic version that starts out with a slow and lyrical paean to the fun of riding and singing. Then the chorus kicks in, and the pace picks up with a synthtastic gallop — although seemingly no actual jingle bells, that kind of flourish perhaps having been regarded as gilding the lily in manner not befitting one of the world's greatest tenors.

It doesn't snow very often in Carreras's native Barcelona, but when you hear the great tenor unleash his Catalan accent on this timeless tune, you know he'll be pulling on the reins when it does.

It might be pushing it to call Katherine Jenkins an "opera great," though she landed a million-pound recording contract by singing a number from The Barber of Seville. She's gone on to be one of the most successful classical-crossover performers, and needless to say she's released not one but two Christmas albums.

Here she is singing "Santa Baby" on the South African reality show Strictly Come Dancing, with a well-rehearsed wiggle and a pair of performers who strictly...well, you get the idea.

This gem, I saved for last. Placido Domingo has a brand-new album called My Christmas — featuring a turtleneck (natch), a pocket square, and a lucky 13 festive tunes that culminate in "Feliz Navidad." The song turns into a sort of pan-Latino fiesta, with the Spanish Domingo joined by the Mexican group Banda el Recodo on a song written by Puerto Rican icon José Feliciano.

There's an unmistakable majesty in the way the opera legend rises into that "I want to wish you a merry Christmas" refrain, continuing on to specify that he hopes you get "lots of presents to make you happy." Fortunately, Christmas music is the gift that keeps giving.

Gallery

Fullscreen SlideshowPrevious Slide

1 of 1

Next Slide