Ben spoke to me earlier this month about his childhood memories of Christmas in the Appl household, how being a 'cathedral sparrow' from the age of nine shaped his perspective on Christmas on several levels, rediscovering the joy of singing simple music with friends and family at this time of year, and why spending the holiday in sunny climes doesn't float his boat...
What are your earliest musical memories of Christmas?
Music has always been a very important part of Christmas within my family. My mother plays the guitar, and we always sang together at home - all year round, but especially at Christmas. My parents had a tree with real beeswax candles, and the combination of the lights, decorations and music had a huge impact on me as a child.
The Nativity scenes we had at home were also very special to me. We have a tradition in Bavaria and Austria of carving figures in wood and dressing them in Bavarian outfits to tell the Christmas Story: the idea is that you bring the Nativity into your own world, that Christ is one of us and meets us where we are. That was the beginning of our collection, but my parents found others from all over the world; we had sets from Italy, South America and Africa, so it became quite a nice international collection of art which shows how one scene was translated into different cultures. The figures from Africa, for example, are made from ebony and dressed in their traditional robes, whereas ours are often in Lederhosen with snow on the roof of the stable!
Our collection is so extensive that it takes around a week to set up each year, so that’s a big part of the preparation - everyone in the family makes cookies and decorations to complement it. As in many families, it’s about lots of people working hard to build an ideal world together: people often feel so much pressure and expectation to make this day perfect, and of course some feel like they fail in the attempt…
That sense of failure often stems from businesses trying to take advantage of the season, but we shouldn’t allow marketing hype to spoil the magic – when people say they don’t like Christmas I think it’s just a reaction to all those commercial pressures. At the end of the day, I think pretty much everyone longs for what Christmas stands for: family, warmth, longing for peace, and reflecting on the past year.
I travel so much these days that I often feel quite disconnected from my roots, and Christmas has become so deeply associated with family, home and tradition that I have an almost childish enthusiasm for it. It’s become a time to reconnect with the joy of singing simple music – of singing without the stress and anxiety you have so often throughout the year, so for me it’s a very special day.
Were you busy with Christmas services from a young age?
I joined the choir in Regensburg when I was nine, and right from the beginning it shaped me so much. You join for the entire duration of high school, so from the age of nine or ten until eighteen or nineteen. In Germany we have a slightly different set-up to your English cathedral and college choirs, because we don’t typically use countertenors and we don’t have lay clerks: the lower parts are provided by the boys themselves, before they do their Abitur (our equivalent of A-levels). The boys sing soprano or alto, then rest for about a year as the voice is breaking and restart as a tenor or bass at sixteen or seventeen.
As a child I was very busy singing three services on Christmas Eve and then two on Christmas Day - and I was lucky in that we lived close enough for me to be a day-boy, so between all these services I was able to spend time with my parents and sleep at home. Most of the boys in the choir are boarders, which means they have to be away from their families over Christmas, and that’s particularly hard for the little ones. But on the other hand, this community of boys experience the magic of music and the beautiful illuminated chapel together every year; those are memories which will probably stay with the kids forever.
Every Christmas Eve we sang mass in Regensburg Prison, and to this day I’m very grateful to have had that experience. We perhaps had certain preconceptions before we met the prisoners, and the dynamic was always a little strange at the beginning: it’s not often that male and female prisoners are able to be in the same room, so initially you’d see looks being exchanged as people checked one another out! But after things had settled a bit, you quickly realised what an impact Christmas has on these people: you’d see prisoners crying as they remembered their families or dreamed of a world that’s more peaceful or intact than the one they now lived in. It was extremely humbling, and a sobering reminder that this can be a very difficult time for people who are estranged from their loved ones.
It’s lovely to have a couple of oratorio arias on the album…
I’ve always loved Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, perhaps even more than the St Matthew Passion. When we were putting up our Nativity scenes my family always listened to a recording which the Regensburg Boys’ Choir made years before my time, so it’s a piece which has strong emotional connections for me. Of course, Mendelssohn’s Elijah isn’t a Christmas piece, but I thought this little aria where the prophet talks about love, grace and peace also carries the quintessential message of Christmas. It’s one of the greatest oratorios to sing, especially for my voice-type, and I’m looking forward to doing it again with the Berliner Philharmonie in two years’ time.
Your programme here features carols from across Europe - was the Christmas repertoire in Regensburg similarly diverse?
No, we mainly focused on Germany, and a lot of the carols we sang when I was a boy are still performed there today. There are a few which are specific to Regensburg, including a piece called 'Transeamus usque Bethlehem' which is included on the album. Then when I moved to London I really appreciated the English way with carols and especially the music of John Rutter, which is such an integral part of Christmas for so many people over here. I don’t know how he does it, but he’s an absolute master at finding the right tunes, harmonic and arrangements and sentiment to reach people’s hearts.
English carols tend to be somewhat less strident than others, and when I listen to them it creates the same emotional connection as the music I experienced as a child. Christmas is so often linked to your childhood, and when you spend the holidays with different families (or start your own) it’s very hard to hang onto that.
How did you come across the lovely 'Noël des oiseaux' by Cécile Chaminade?
I heard it on a recording by Anne Sofie von Otter, and I thought it was just charming; it’s originally for piano and voice, but I commissioned this beautiful orchestration by the same person who did our version of 'Stille Nacht'. Most of the German carols in particular are quite slow and meditative, and I liked this one because it had a completely different flavour. In a way it’s quite childish, thinking about the birds and so on, but I think it’s a beautiful addition to a Christmas album. They’re tricky things to programme, because you want to reach out to as many people as possible without stepping outside your comfort-zone and cheapening things. Hopefully we’ve created something here which fits together and isn’t too commercial!
Your mother Edeltraud joins you for 'Stille Nacht': does she play the guitar professionally?
She’s completely self-taught and she played a lot with us when we were children, especially Bavarian folk music. My mum doesn’t really play in the classical way, but she knows how to accompany all kinds of songs - she’s very intuitive like that. When we were putting the programme together I had the option of using the zither or harp for a couple of numbers, but in the end I thought it would be lovely to ask her. She isn’t someone who likes being the centre of attention, and at the beginning I think she was quite nervous about being in the recording studio. But eventually she relaxed and enjoyed it: this is an album looking back to my childhood and roots, so it was very important for me to have her there.
You mentioned travel earlier - how far afield have you spent Christmas?
I was in South Africa for Christmas Day last year and it was a beautiful hot day, so people went to the beach. I’m afraid that wasn’t for me: I know some people like the sun at Christmas, but I’m not one of them! I’ll never do it again, because everything that makes Christmas for me just didn’t happen.
This year I’m in Hamburg singing Papageno – The Magic Flute is perfect for getting the children out of the house so one parent can get on with the Christmas preparations! But I’ll get to spend some time with my family around Christmas itself, and that’s very special for me.
Benjamin Appl (baritone), Regensburger Domspatzen, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Florian Helgath
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
