I’ve sung more from the various Carols for Choirs books than I could possibly remember over the years. I sang several pieces from it last night, and I’ll be doing so again at Midnight Mass tomorrow (at St John’s Devizes, if anyone’s nearby and interested, and if I’m allowed a quasi-advert within forum rules). Many of the David Willcocks descants are as well-loved as the carols/hymns they were written for.
Some comments on those mentioned above:
Coventry Carol is one of my favourites too. Do you prefer the original 15th/16th century version or Martin Shaw’s 20th century arrangement? It’s usually the latter on most recordings.
In the Bleak Midwinter is a very popular set of words, but do you prefer the Holst or Darke melodies? The Holst is more prevalent, but most musicians of my acquaintance prefer the Darke (as do I).
O come O come Emmanuel is also great, although (being very ecclesiastically pedantic) it is an Advent hymn rather than a Christmas carol. The words are very closely based on the ancient Advent O antiphons (see wikipedia if necessary) which are used liturgically right now, in the last days of Advent.
I could bore for Britain on this subject, so I’ll leave it there for now.
Mark