In Nativitatem Domini Canticum H. 416 by Marc-Antoine Charpentier performed by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants.
That's H. 416 recorded on
Erato in 2000, not H. 414 of similar title recorded by the same
forces on Harmonia Mundi in 1982, also essential. Both the
composition and performance have such an ease and inevitability, you
feel you could just sit write down and write it like you might make a
grocery list, or get up and sing it like you sing “Roxanne” in
the shower. Like the best Christmas music, it acknowledges the need
for salvation before the arrival of salvation (see also Honnegger's
Christmas Cantata).
