It’s the time of year to break out my favorite Christmas record– George Winston’s December. It’s an instrumental holiday album you really need to hear.

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December is a masterpiece, a collection of twelve delicate piano solos. Some are original compositions, and some are arrangements of classics. It’s worth your time, cover to cover, every year. I mark every year’s “First December Play”– this year’s was November 13th.

Winston’s prowess as a composer and arranger sparkles the whole way through. This year I’ve found myself focusing on his talent for juxtaposing patterns between his right and left hands, noticing as he shifts interpolations and emphases to make every track hold an ocean of detail. It’s also well recorded, which never hurts. The piano’s tonality is beautiful.

My undying love of December is owed to Winston’s willingness to explore the other feelings of the holiday season. Many artists have touched on the inherent sadness of the Christmas “mood”, but nobody does it quite like December does. A tender air of melancholy fills the record. Take “Thanksgiving,” the opener (and, I imagine, most folks' first exposure to the record)– nothing else quite captures the descent of fall into winter and its accompanying moods.

Too much of our Christmas music shimmers with saccharine sentiment– Winston’s spare arrangements remind us of the quiet of winter, the spaces outside of consumerism and self-congratulatory posting. We gather in winter not just to share gifts, but to share warmth– whether emotional, spiritual, etc.

We gather for one more day’s light, because it’s the best we can hope for.

December is truly worth your time.