These classical gems are sure to bring joy to the holiday season

It’s not the holidays without music, and this year there’s a wealth of new recordings to choose for gifts or for your own festive listening. The Kansas City Symphony has released a new album of music by Holst, there’s a rare opera gem and new Christmas CDs from Sylvia McNair and The 5 Browns. Check out these classical stocking stuffers.

Kansas City Symphony — Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” and “The Perfect Fool” (Reference Recordings)

Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” is one of the most recorded pieces of classical music, so what makes Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony’s new recording of the work so special? The performance is as good as any you’re likely to hear, but this recording is a standout for the stunning sound captured by Keith O. “Professor” Johnson, the legendary producer for Reference Recordings.

Johnson now has considerable experience recording the Kansas City Symphony in Helzberg Hall, and “The Planets” captures the hall’s pristine acoustics with breathtaking accuracy. If at all possible, listen to the super audio version in surround sound. It will make you forget about previous recordings by Karajan, Dutoit, et al.

Stern chose “The Perfect Fool” by Holst to fill out the disc. It was an inspired choice of an under-recorded work. Stern told me that Reference has another Kansas City Symphony recording that hasn’t been released yet. It’s a disc of non-orchestral music by Brahms orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg, Kansas City native Virgil Thomson and Bright Sheng. We can hardly wait, maestro.

Bavarian Radio Symphony Chorus — Opera Choruses (BR Klassik)

The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra’s own record label has just released a disc of opera choruses performed by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Chorus and the Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra, and it’s spine-tingling. This Central European orchestra has a burnished, old-world sound with rich brasses and lush strings, and the singing is voluptuous. Those Bavarian engineers show off the musicians and singers in their full glory.

Up-and-coming Croatian conductor Ivan Repusic leads his forces through some of opera’s greatest hits, including the Wedding March from Wagner’s “Lohengrin” and Borodin’s “Polovetsian Dances.” I also thoroughly enjoyed the lesser-heard choruses from Verdi’s “Otello” and “Macbeth.” For some reason, this disc screams New Year’s Eve to me, although it would hit the spot any time you need a sonic pick-me-up.

André Grétry — “Raoul Barbe-bleue” (Aparte)

Why in the world isn’t André Grétry’s music better known? This Belgian contemporary of Mozart wrote more than 50 operas — lyrical, lovely works that simultaneously look back to the past and into the future. One hears ornamented echoes of the French baroque as well as intimations of Romanticism in his music. Grétry’s gift for melody rivals any composer’s and his distinctive, likable style makes his music stand out among faceless, classical era works.

Orkester Nord, an early music orchestra based in Trondheim, Norway, has just released a recording of one of Grétry’s operas, and it’s a gem. “Raoul Barbe-Bleue” is based on the fairy tale “Bluebeard” by Charles Perrault, and the music sparkles with Grétry’s irresistible good humor and tuneful melodies. Martin Wahlberg conducts a cast of superb early music vocalists, including Chantal Santon-Jeffery. You really don’t need to know a word they’re singing or what the story is, just revel in Grétry’s glorious music.

Christmas with the 5 Browns

I’ve always had a soft spot for the 5 Browns, five brilliant piano-playing siblings. Home-schooled in Utah, all five attended Juilliard. It’s nice to see they’re still together, making charming music, as heard on their latest disc, “Christmas with The 5 Browns.” Released on the Steinway record label, it features holiday favorites in dazzling arrangements for five pianos.

Two excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” Suite open the album. There are lots of recordings of the two-piano arrangement of this holiday favorite, but five pianos give Tchaikovsky’s music an almost orchestral sound. The final track, “Carol of the Bells,” is a stunner with the pianos clanging like Russian Orthodox church bells.

All the arrangements take full advantage of the siblings’ keyboard virtuosity. This is a CD that rewards close listening, but will also impress your friends as high-class background music at your Christmas party.

“Festival of Carols”

I’m a sucker for big orchestral, opera superstar holiday blow-outs, the sort of Christmas albums Jessye Norman, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Boston Pops used to put out. It seems that fewer orchestras are releasing Christmas spectaculars, so that makes the new Naxos release “Festival of Carols” even more welcome. Soprano Sylvia McNair headlines this tinsel-fest, which also features the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir and Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra.

The album starts with a bombastic “Joy to the World,” and is followed by many delightful holiday songs in fresh and creative arrangements. McNair has several opportunities to shine, including in a unique rendition of “O Holy Night,” which has the choir singing a lush, sweeping backup. This is a live performance, so the applause might be annoying to some. All in all, “Festival of Carols” is a rousing new disc to accompany the unwrapping of presents Christmas morning.

You can reach Patrick Neas at patrickneas@kcartsbeat.com and follow his Facebook page, KC Arts Beat, at www.facebook.com/kcartsbeat.