Album: Don Cossacks Choir, Christmas in Russia (Christophorus)

From its fearless high tenors to its lowest basses, the DCC has a sound as dark as midnight and as vast as Russia.

This is a disc to listen to when the children are safely tucked up in bed: a glittering, incense-heavy Christmas Vespers of stern intonations, defiant choruses, a single, gentle lullaby and bone-shattering bells. Though conductor Marcel Verhoeff is Dutch, authenticity is all, as the vocal soloists are joined by priests from four different churches in the bottomless acoustic of the Church of the Veil of the Mother of God.