Nothing warms the heart at Christmas like putting your feet up with a glass of wine (mulled perhaps, or more likely laced with ice) and listening to some favourite carols. If, like me, you enjoy gussying up the trusty festive playlist each year with something new, here are seven recent releases you might consider taking for a yuletide spin.

St Martin’s Voices. Photo © Lia Vittone

Something splashy to start. All the Stars Looked Down is a celebration of modern-day carol-meister John Rutter (Kings College KGS0075-D). Recorded in the iconic King’s College Chapel, the famous Choir of King’s College, Cambridge and the Britten Sinfonia are put through their paces by Daniel Hyde in orchestral arrangements of Christmas carols by Rutter himself alongside music by composers who have influenced him, including Philip Ledger and David Willcocks. It might be on the saccharine side for some, but their Hark! The Herald Angels Sing certainly raises the roof, and who can resist an arrangement of Vaughan Williams’ jubilant Sussex Carol.

If you fancy something a little more left-field, Hearth, by America’s exceptional Miró...