2 comments about Yule.

1. I confess that it was the beautiful, archaic cover art that really prompted me to buy this CD; I assumed that the music would reflect the sensitively rendered Celtic cover: put simply, it did. This CD contains the delicate poetry of the Celtic musical style, which seems to hearken back to an earlier -- perhaps even ancient -- time, while still paying tribute to some of the season's traditional favorites (We Three Kings, Ding Ding! Dong! Merrily on High, Here We Come A-Wassailing, Once in Royal David's City); as well as to a number of lesser known musical selections -- such as (my favorite) The Wexford Carol, Masters in this Hall, The Gower Wassail, and so on. If you are like me, and feel the need during this special time of year, to reach far back beyond the crush of the modern world, then this CD will be a balm to your soul.



2. This CD is the best Christmas music I own. Beautiful and relaxing. I never get tired of it!

2 comments about Christmas Album.

1. I have to admit to being an absolute sop and say I LOVE CHRISTMAS and Christmas music. I am manic at this time of year. This is one of the most beautiful Christmas albums I have heard. Aled Jones has a beautiful soothing voice and being a traditionalist I love the songs he has chosen. It is worth buying this CD purely for the most haunting versions of the `Coventry Carol' you will ever hear. His duet on `Silent Night' with Hayley Westenra is also magnificent, along with my favourite carol `The Angel Gabriel'. He also sings a duet with himself on the bonus track `O Holy Night', himself as a boy soprano which will take your breath away. If you want a haunting, beautiful and soothing traditional Christmas album don't miss this one because it is a real Gem.



2. I stumbled across this album quite by accedent and it hasn't been off my CD player since. Aled Jones really has the most beautiful male voice I've ever heard. His beautiful renditions of some of the most well known and loved christmas carols, as well as some of the less well known is a delight to the ears. His versions of The Covantry Carol, The Angel Gabriel and God Rest You Merry Gentle men gave me goose bumps and his duet Silent Night sung with Hayley Westenra is really too beautiful for words to do it justice. This album really is not to be missed.

2 comments about Songs 4 Worship: Christmas.

1. I think this album is great because it has such beautiful music in it.



2. I love this Christmas Set. It is so uplifting and joyful. If you a a fan of the Songs 4 Life Series this is a must have.
   
   Bring back the true meaning to Christmas and keep your focus during a very commercial season.

5 comments about Christmas Is Jesus.

1. I've purchased a few Bryan Duncan CDs and I haven't been disappointed yet. This Christmas album is no exception... it's wonderful! Bryan's incredible voice delivers on these traditional and new Christmas songs. I especially love the title song 'Christmas is Jesus', which I first heard a couple of years ago on a Christian radio station... the poignant lyrics and melody are absolutely beautiful. I highly recommend this recording to your Christmas music collection.



2. This has to be the best Christmas CD I own. Most of Bryan Duncan's music is very upbeat, high-energy (he screams a lot) but this CD is more quiet and reflective. At the same time, it's not dull. A choir in the background on most of the songs makes you feel like you're at a live Christmas concert. All the old songs sound fresh, while the new ones are instant classics. If you only get one Christmas album this year, buy this one!



3. I don't buy a lot of music because I'm pretty picky about what I like. This one is one of my top six favorites Christmas CD's and all six of those are so close to number one that I can't really decide which I like most.
   So, with that said, I can't imagine NOT having this CD around at Christmas time. I won't go on with a lot of details other than to say that besides myself, I don't know anyone else who has this CD that don't like it. Yes, some songs are better than others but there are NO bad cuts here.



4. For his 1995 Christmas release, Bryan Duncan arranged many classic and almost classic songs to fit his normal style. The result is a CD that sounds different enough to be enjoyed when the familiar Christmas sounds are feeling old. It combines familiar, lesser known traditional, and new songs on a fresh way.

   For example, the CD starts off with the lesser recorded "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." Here it becomes a moving ballad.

   Next up is an upbeat pop rendition of "Angels We Have Heard on High." "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" is presented later in the same vein.

   "What Child is This?" is combined with the hymn "What Wondrous Love is This?" for an interesting combination I had never thought of before but love.

   The two new songs are "Christmas is Jesus" and "The Form of Man." While I'm not too fond of the first one, I love the second and listen to it plenty of times during December as I, too, wonder at the thought of God becoming man.

   Toward the end of the CD, he provides a few secular Christmas songs. His version of "Grown-Up Christmas List" is almost as good as Amy Grant's (still my favorite). After the almost requisite "The Christmas Song," the CD closes with "Please Come Home for Christmas." I'd never heard this song before, but I really find myself singing along with this bluesy pop song.

   If you want a CD that will freshen up your Christmas music collection this is it. I've enjoyed it for a number of years.




5. I would say that this is one of the greatest Christmas CDs! The songs are very inspirational and moving!

5 comments about Oiche Chiun (Silent Night) [Maxi Single].

1. Silent Night is indescribably beautiful. It brings tears to my eyes every time I play it. Vintage Enya chord progressions and key changes. Fluid, romantic, sensual, contlemplative . . . .Heaven for your head.

   Oh, how I long for an entire Christmas Holiday CD from this artist!




2. You cannot beat having Silent Night in another language.I love hearing different language interpretations of holiday favourites. Makes things more... multicultural and festive. No one better to bring us Silent Night in Irish than the incomparable Enya who delivers a otherworldly, if not heavenly, version of Silent Night. Something you must have for your Christmas music collections!



3. This is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard...brought tears to my eyes when I heard it. Christmas is not compete without it. Don't listen to those who say it is dull listening to 'Silent Night' in another langauge! Listening to Enya singing it is like listening to the angels themselves...Need I say more?



4. I'm not one for Christmas music, I admit..but Enya does great with this. I would say the track that really does it for me on here is 'Oriel Window'. I took a liking to that track immediately. Yet another must own product from Enya.



5. I was never an Enya fan before... don't dislike her, just indifferent... I heard this on the radio and was captivated. It is simply... beautiful. No other words for it. Wow. Just wow.

5 comments about Amahl and the Night Visitors.

1. I'm currently studying the role of Amahl's mother, and I got this recording by the luck of the draw. Kaspar is horribly flat throughout, which is a shame. It was a difficult recording to listen to once, I dread bearing it the number of times I will need to over the next two months.

   I'm going to try to return it this afternoon.




2. Gee - sorry to those who like this modern recording but I like the 1951 recording the best.I have both the LP which is quite scratched by now and the CD which is quite good except for the pauses between tracks. I recommend the 1951 version available from Amazon (or at least it was in 2001).



3. If you know the opera by heart, have performed it countless times, then you know that no recording is as good as the orginal 1951 recording. I find it difficult to listen to any other. I wish that it would be released again!



4. This recording (produced in 1986), directed with the help of the composer, Gian Carl Menotti, is the most perfect piece of music I have encountered in many years. Amahl's (James Rainbird)voice is of such sweet clarity and nuance that it brings me to tears. The orchestra (Covent Garden Symphony) is beautiful and multi-layered. Each time I listen to it, I discover some other little piece of phrasing by another instrument that adds to the complex tapestry of the over all musical score. I have purchased several copies of it for friends. I have listened to other versions of Amahl for over 50 years, and this is, by far, the best I have ever heard. For pure listening pleasure of a treasured Christmas classic, I cannot recommend it highly enough. I even listen to it throughout the year, regardless of the season. I simply do not understand other people's criticism of it. Perhaps I am musically naive, perhaps they are musical snobs. It is pure musical bliss in my book, and I can't get enough of it.



5. The music is beautiful, and this is the definitive Christmas opera, but the original recording is much better. This is an almost too polished version. Every sylable is just so, and each part is so perfect it is almost boring. The child in the original is much better because he is not so polished that it seems affected.

4 comments about It's the Thought.

1. I realized something today. I've only had this CD for 10 years. It seems like it should have been longer to me since I can't picture Christmas without it any more.

   7 of the 12 tracks here are classic Christmas songs. But such tracks as "Midwinter," "I Saw Three Ships," and "Down in Yon Forest" are less familiar and recorded songs. Twila wrote four of the originals, including the title song, which ties Christmas and Easter together. My favorite of the original songs is "This World," written by her father, talking about the change that the first Christmas had on the entire world. I also like the pairing of "White Christmas" with the chorus "Whiter then Snow." It gives a whole different spin on the traditional classic.

   I heard an interview with Twila Paris about this CD, and she said her goal was to create a CD that was worshipful. As if you'd expect from Twila, she hit the mark. This is especial evident in the second and third songs, "Alleluia, Christ is Born" and "Glory to God (The Angel's Song)."

   This is one of the first CD's I pull out every Christmas. It you're at all a fan of Twila's music, get it today. You'll enjoy it for years to come.




2. So many Christmas albums sound like they were thrown together in an afternoon. But this album shows great care and thought by the artist. Note the last two recordings: "O Holy Night" and "Wandering Pilgrim". I play them throughout the year when I want to enter into the presence of the Lord.



3. I gave this to two of my best friends when it first came out. I was at their home this past weekend for a Christmas party. They still had this cd and were playing it while we visited. Only Twila could create such a worshipful Christmas cd. She's a true gift from God.
   
   I'm ashamed to say that after hearing it again, I wish I had kept it for myself. A true blessing.



4. This strangely titled Christmas album is a nice mix of standard Christmas tunes with a few original compositions. Twila Paris does a solid job with some traditional songs. It's rare for any pop artist to do justice to Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus," but this is a nice arrangement. And her "In the Bleak Midwinter" and "O Holy Night" are also well-done.
   
   Of particular note are a few new songs, written by Paris herself. "Alleluia, Christ is Born" and "Wandering Pilgrim" are particularly outstanding.
   
   I only gave this album four stars because its sound is somewhat dated. On several tracks, the dominant synthesizer sound is just screaming, "This was recorded in the 1980's," which unfortunately detracts from the overall experience.
   
   Nonetheless, this is a quality Christmas album, and I look forward to listening to it each year. I recommend it to anyone interested in a somewhat unique offering of Christmas music.

1 comments about Beyond December.

1. First Call, two voices lifting the Lord's name, you can hear a fantastic reason for praise Him.

2 comments about A Traditional Christmas Carol Collection.

1. I wish amazon.com had put audio samples on their site for this CD. I went to the Barnes & Noble site and listened to their samples and bought it on the spot. This is traditional Christmas music you might hear at a Christmas Eve church service. Very nice arrangements and selections. Highly recommended. I'll be purchasing more copies to give as gifts.



2. A Traditional Christmas Carol Collection is probably the best traditional Christmas CD I have heard---and I have an impressive collection of Christmas music: both traditional and more contemporary. It's on par with the offerings of the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields or King's College Choir, but the recording is very new, and has very little noise or tape-to-disk artifacts. In other words, it's qualitatively the same in terms of performance, but significantly better in terms of recording technology.
   
   I enthusiastically purchased the CD from iTunes as soon as I heard it, then purchased a CD from Amazon as a gift a week or so later.
   
   I'm a fan of Christmas carols in general, and choral versions in particular. A Traditional Christmas Carol Collection might well be the ultimate expression of that combination. In fact, my only real complaint against the CD is that there are only 21 songs on it. If they had performed a two- or three-disk set... that would have been truly perfect.
   
   This is certainly "traditional" in an English sense, not an American one. There are some carols here you won't hear too frequently in America (unless, like me, you listen to King's College Choir at Christmas). But they're wonderfully done.
   
   If you're looking for something trendy or tacky for a party, this isn't it. And if you prefer to think of Christmas as "solstice" or "the holidays", then this might be a little overtly Christian for you. But if you want something to make your spirit soar as you sit by a fire, nursing an eggnog or a brandy; this is the one you want.

3 comments about Hely-Hutchinson:Carol Symphony.

1. This is a delightful holiday CD of music inspired by Christmas carols. The works recorded (all by British composers) here were the result of Christmas concerts that symphony orchestras began adding to their calendars in the 20th century as an alternative to the Messiah and Bach's Christmas Oratorio. The longest of the works recorded here is the Carol Symphony of Victor Hely-Hutchinson, composed in the mid-1920s. It is cast in four movements although the symphony is to be played without a pause. Each movement is based on a single carol but the second and last movements make use of a second carol theme. Improvisations on Christmas Carols by Bryan Kelly is set in five short movements with each based on a single carol and include God rest ye merry gentlemen, I saw three ships and Ding dong merrily on high. Bethlehem Down is a short piece by Peter Warlock, originally for voice, is arranged here a string orchestra by Philip Lane whose own Wassail Dances is included on this disc. The Dances are based on three drinking songs that are sung during the Christmas season in England. The final work is A Christmas Carol Symphony by Patric Standford that is also cast in four movements and makes use of several carols notably Deck the Halls, God rest ye merry gentlemen, Away in a manger, On Christmas Night and ends with We wish you a merry Christmas.
   
   The music is very well played and recorded. The music is imaginatively orchestrated and is perfect as a supplement to hearing the ubiquitous renderings of the Halleluiah Chorus of Handel.



2. A wonderful Christmas musical addition to your CD library. Excellent arrangements with full orchestra in classical style. Good stuff.



3. This is a great Christmas disc for those who want something a little off the beaten path. There are several very interesting original works based upon known (and sometimes unknown) Christmas music themes. The Prague Phil is a great form, and the price can't be beat! Very pleasant, and worth a hear. Enjoy!