4 comments about Feliz Navidad.

1. spanish and english come together in this well done christmas album easy to listen and also to understand.



2. Tatiana recently received the Prize: "The children phenomenum of the decade" by a television magazine in Mexico. Nothing more appropiate.



3. Tatiana's christams cd's are the greatest idea ever! because when it is christmas you want to listen good christmas music, maybe you feel tired of classical christmas music or even you feel tired of various artists christmas songs, well don't worry because Tatiana is here with not one TWO CHRISTMAS CD'S with a great quality, this cd contains danceable and entertaining christmas music but also it contains ballads with all kind of christmas music I entirely reccommend you to buy this.
   As long as there's christmas I truly believe that Tatiana's cds are the greatest of the gisfts you'll recieve.



4. This is a cute, pop Christmas CD in Spanish. I am a Spanish teacher and I like to play this for my students around the holiday. My high school students really love it.

5 comments about Celebration (Christmas Fanfares & Carols).

1. This is the CD you want to play when family is gathered around. It is beautiful, inspiring, peaceful. It's in perpetual rotation throughout the Christmas season at our house.



2. Christmas Fanfares and Carols is an exciting collection of superb coral music for the Christmas season. Not just a collection of the run of the mill carols, this collection includes spirituals, old english carols, and some moving contemporary pieces sung with the marvelous choral style of the BBC Welsh Chorus. I first heard the album on WQED in Pittsburgh several years ago, and have been in love with this Christmas album ever since.



3. What more can I say! We have enjoyed this album for several years and would HIGHLY recommend it for all who enjoy traditional Christmas music.



4. What more can I say! We have enjoyed this album for several years and would HIGHLY recommend it for all who enjoy traditional Christmas music.



5. I ordered this CD after seeing a video of Bryn Terfel performing Tua Bethlehem Dref on a classical music cable channel. The carol, as he performed it, was stunning. On this CD, it's performed by a choir.
   
   Speaking as an American listener, I do not like spirituals or folk music when it's "gussied-up" and performed by very highly-trained choirs. The spoken-word segments of the CD also left me flat, as did other arcane carols that were rather lacrymose.
   
   I personally would not recommend this CD to anyone who was not Welsh or British (because I assume the disparity between my disappointment and others' raves may have to do with ethnicity).

2 comments about Celtic Christmas.

1. Let me preface this review by saying that when I went to Amazon.com to search for this particular album, I had no idea I would run in to roughly eighty different Celtic Christmas search returns! Having not heard the other eighty, I can't hold this one against any others as "better" or "best", I can only give my thoughts on this particular album itself.

   I only recently discovered some of the Celtic field to be of interest after listening to the soundtrack for the movie Lord of the Rings. When a sibling of mine was given this music CD as an early Christmas present, I sat down for a good listen.

   This CD plays most of your favorite Christmas songs, but of course with a Celtic flair. From the songs you know like Away in a Manger and Auld Land Syne, to a few extra obscure ones that you may not know, like "Coleraine's Jig" and "Cannaught Man's Rambles". The CD is a great little seasoning you can use to spice up the humdrum holiday music in that old CD rack. The lovely little Irish/Celtic jilt just might be enough to make you dance a jig!

   If you've got a bit of the Scotsman in ye, or if you just happen to be hosting a Hobbit Head party for the holidays, this is the CD you should buy.




2. JUST AS GOOD AS IT'S PARTNER "A CELTIC CHRISTMAS STORY" BY DAN GIBSON, BOTH BY THE SAME LABEL.

2 comments about Handel - Messiah.

1. The harpsichord is used in this recording albeit discretely (with reference to the previous review - a clavecin is in fact a harpsichord) and Jacobs makes very imaginative use of the organ. The use by Jacobs of the lute as a continuo instrument is also incredibly effective. The soloists are uniformly excellent and the choir is spectacular. Whilst not as devotional as the recent Harnoncourt recording (my all time favourite), the combination of English choral excellence, German orchestral brilliance and Flemish flair in the conducting make for a winning recipe. Don't miss it.



2. There is an alchemy in this recording that if extremely rare to find outside of a concert hall. Even though the tempi are usual and it is more "baroquey" than my tastes run, this is one of the most magical recording I have come across. I wish I could give it more than five stars.

5 comments about Rejoice! A String Quartet Christmas.

1. One doesn't think about string quartets and Christmas carols, but these folks do--and do a marvelous job of it! If you like "background music" during the Christmas season (let's trim that tree and boil the figgy pudding), this should be part of your collection. Also see the companion CD. Great set. Music well played and artistically arranged in a variety of styles.



2. Tired of the same old Xmas caroles sung by the same singers I decided to try something a little different. Being a chamber music fan and finding this CD at a book store I purchased it having recognized the name John Marks.This was the best thing I did all year.I listen to this CD all year long. Summer, Spring, Winter and Fall.The artistry of the players is extraordinary as is the sound.5 Stars for each.I did not buy this CD,I invested in it.The dow falls and the music soars.



3. When the first String Quartet Christmas CD was released a few years ago, it did not immediately catch my attention, until I was stuck in a major traffic jam a few days before Christmas. WCRB, a classical music station in Boston, often plays what they call "classic clusters" of short relaxing classical pieces and one was a holiday cluster with music from this disk. This particular cluster had selections from this CD. Though horns were honking from impatient drivers behind me, I felt relaxed while listening to this soothing music. I later purchased the recording knowing that it would become a favorite part of my Christmas collection.

   The concept of this collection is not all that complex. Christmas carols are arranged for string quartet. Most of the arrangements sound like Christmas music of the great classical composers. It makes for wonderful background music for more sophisticated Christmas get together, or a relaxing collection to listen to at the end of a busy day preparing for the holidays. Ideally I imagine a person putting a few logs on the fire, turning down the lights, putting the disc in the player, and simply enjoying the melodious music of the holiday season.




4. So someone wanted background on the musicians. I can give you some background on the second violinist, Alexander Romanul (you know the one they almost mixed out of this CD). Read it fast before he gets furious with me and tells me to take it down. (Well, I've never actually heard him even raise his voice, but even if he asks me nicely I'll honor his wishes.)
   
   So there's the usual stuff. He was a child prodigy, won the BSO young artists at 13, debuted with some other orchestra at 11 or 12 playing the Mendelsson. Has done lots of solo performances in North America and Europe, played with the BSO a lot of years, yada. yada. A friend of his, who has been concertmaster of a couple New England orchestras once told me, "You understand, don't you, Margaret, that Alexander can really play? It's enough to drive a person completely nuts."
   
   As a young man, he decided to try for the Wieniawski. He locked himself in a room in Germany for 5 months and played scales very slowly without vibrato seeking to play perfectly in tune. He only placed fifth, but the change in him could evidentally be felt and he caused something of a national sensation.
   
   It was then that the process began which he describes as the quest for pure sound, something for which he has sacrificed a great deal. The process has brought him into deep states and he undergoes a constant, tortured struggle to reconcile its lure with the demands of the world. He still sometimes closes himself in a room for long periods of time, coming out only to shower and eat or take an evening stroll.
   
   He claims to have hit a couple home runs in his life, but in my experience, he has never been fully satisfied with anything, so I wouldn't let the fact that he's not satisfied with this CD unsettle you too much. I define a good CD as one which I can listen to four times in a row and then come back to the next day. I think the difference has relatively little to do with the recording quality, the virtuosity, the genre. One can still miss even with technical perfection. It has to do with whether the performers can remain true to the calling and not go up into their heads as a refuge from doubt. I do feel that this music bears on its wings an authentic, "Peace on earth, Goodwill toward men."
   
   Alexander has spent hundreds of hours with my son in tickle fights, swimming in the local reservoir and competing for the best rendition of Disney characters. "Hello, my name is Bruce! I know, why trust a shark?" He reads a lot. Some of his mainstays are Joseph Campbell, Tolkien and Krishnamurti. But at any given moment he might be into an analysis of the stock market or Sir Walter Scott, rammed earth housing, sun spots, Wampanoag Indians or the peculiar behavior of a stray dog in the local police reports. He's articulate and thoughtful and has a sort of zany mischievous sense of humor. He remembers his dreams, likes carnations and Indian food, watches the weather, can identify most of the North American raptors and lepidoptera, plays board games, swims long distances, gets attached to his shirts, makes a mean chocolate chip cookie and drives an old Civic.



5. This is a marvelous group of Boston area musicians who have come together and recorded beautiful arrangements of classic Christmas carols. The blending and intonation of this string ensemble is gorgeous!!

3 comments about Christmas.

1. Edward Gerhard has provided my family with the warmth of his music. His acoustical renditions of classic Chistmas carols and seasonal favorites are lyrical and clean. There is no big band here, just a great guitarist and great music. This CD gets a lot of air time on our kitchen CD player during the yule season. Buy it. You will not be disappointed!...P.S. my sisters are all getting one for Christmas!



2. Simple, beautiful acoustic guitar renditions of many well known Christmas songs. It's not jazzed up, reggae'ed up, rocked up, rapped up, or schmaltzied up. You can listen to it over and over without getting annoyed by it. HIGHLY recommended.



3. I don't mind putting this CD on repeat because it is lovely and non-intrusive. Nice for playing in the background as you go about your business.

No comments about Christmas Lounge.

5 comments about Santamental Journey: Pop Vocal Christmas Classics { Various Artists }.

1. This little collection has it all-the traditional White Christmas by Bing; Perry Como's classic Home For The Holidays; The Christmas Song as interpreted by The Drifters and an outstanding version of Let It Snow by Jo Stafford & The Starlighters. A Christmas cd to enjoy for many years to come!



2. Fantastic vintage Christmas music. No matter what generation you are from, if you love big band music you will love this. Excellent



3. I'm really surprised to see so few reviews of this great collection as compiled by those fabulous folks at RHINO. I found every song to be a major winner, with the exception of Jack Jones' version of Jingle Bells. Now don't get me wrong, I've always liked Jack Jones & even have some of his cd's in my collection; but this is one of the worst covers of Jingle Bells I've ever heard. Maybe it's the arrangement but it sounds like he just couldn't be bothered recording the song. Oh well, it shouldn't matter-every other song is golden & are original versions. Highly recommended.



4. Where else are you going to find a Christmas album with songs by Doris Day, Joni James, Rosemary Clooney, Jo Stafford, Judy Garland, and Peggy Lee (some of the greatest female singers of all time)? Excellent male singers are represented, too, with carols sung by Dick Haymes, Perry Como, and Billy Eckstine. This is a well-chosen selection that features songs and recordings that are not the same old ones that are on dozens of other compilations. This one will be a holiday season favorite at your house.



5. This is a collection of pop vocal Christmas songs. It's the kind of pop music that was popular in the pre-rock and roll era, as sung by the likes of Bing Crosby. Most of these songs are terrific, including some classics by the likes of Bing Crosby and Judy Garland, as well as some good lesser known recordings. But I don't really care for the songs by Jack Jones and Johnny Desmond(who?). And where are Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.? Despite those minor complaints, this is still a very good collection.

2 comments about Classical Christmas.

1. This cd answers the need for top-quality, musical performance of Christmas carols and classical music - suitable for active concentrated listening as well as background music. It offers a superb and tasteful variety of selections and is perfect for a black tie party as well as music to play in the home for holiday cheer or relaxation. I'd even go so far as to say that it would benefit infants and pre-schoolers too- any age group.
   This cd offers professional musicianship. The carols do not demand the proficiency of the classical selections. That's when the Lumiere String Quartet reveals is conservatory training! Stellar performance!
   I highly recommend this cd.



2. I loved this CD!!! I used all but 5 songs from it for the prelude music for my December 23rd wedding!
   
   The quality of musicians and recording is incredible!
   
   I would without hesitation encourage all who are looking for an instrumental Christmas CD - to purchase THIS ONE - you will not be disappointed!

2 comments about Christmas with the Platters.

1. This Christmas album represents the Platters (minus original lead singer Tony Williams who departed in 1960) as recorded in 1963.

   I picked this album up after having bought a 1990's album by some ensemble of the Platters containing only 1 original member and sounding nothing like the Platters at all. The CD was packaged with a picture of the 1950s members but the arrangements and singers sounded nothing like the hit 50's group.

   As a Christmas record this album is actually quite fun and actually sounds like The Platters. The best songs are the slow numbers: White Christmas, Silent Night and For Auld Lang Syne, produced and performed in the style of their great 50's ballads.

   The album also features original members bass singer Herb Reed (now the ONLY member of the current Platters) on Rudolf and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town and Zola "The Dish" Taylor on All I want For Christmas...

   As all good Christmas albums need some novelties, these actually work, as do the unique upbeat arrangements on Jingle Bells and others.

   Don't be fooled by cheap imitations. Get this Platters Xmas album!




2. This Christmas album by the Platters was originally released in 1963. This was one of the last albums that they made for Mercury Records. Incidently, their producer Buck Ram was the co-writer of the Christmas classic "I'll Be Home For Christmas", which unsurprisingly is included here. The Platters were one of the most important vocal groups of the early rock and roll era, but this album doesn't rock very much (with the exception of the redundantly titled "Jingle Bells Jingle"). Most of the songs are accompanied by strings, with "rock" instruments pushed into the background. But that's fine, because the songs still turned put pretty well. Nothing earth-shatteringly original here, just well sung Christmas songs. And there's certainly nothing wrong with that.