Christmas Extraordinaire

Mannheim Steamroller (Composer), George Frideric Handel (Composer), Irving Berlin (Composer), James R. Murray (Composer), Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (Composer), Noel Regney (Composer), Christmas Traditional (Composer), Ray / Livingston, Jay Evans (Composer), Catalan Traditional (Composer), Alfred S. Burt (Composer), Felix Bernard (Composer), Robert Burns (Conductor), Chip Davis (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Conductor: Robert Burns
• Composer: Mannheim Steamroller, George Frideric Handel, Irving Berlin, James R. Murray, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, et al.
• Audio CD (October 30, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: American Gramaphone
• ASIN: B00005NNDK
• In-Print Editions: DVD Audio  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (105 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,145 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Chip Davis's Mannheim Steamroller hasn't lost any ground in the six years since their last Yuletide offering. Christmas Extraordinare is another innovative and heartfelt collection of seasonal treasures played on a combination of 18th-century instruments and modern-day synthesizers, drums, and electric guitars. While not the first to marry different ages of musical instruments, Davis and his cohorts use them with imagination and an intensity that gives new life and drama to this rather inert genre. For material, Mannheim Steamroller asked their fans to choose their favorite holiday selections and vote on their Web site. The results of the poll are a fine mix of old and new--with slightly more emphasis on the modern--ranging from the bracing "Fum, Fum, Fum," a traditional Catalan carol, to Tchaikovsky's "Faeries" from The Nutcracker. Mannheim Steamroller imbues this beloved song with an almost militaristic edge, grounding it with an ominous tuba that gives the usually fey "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies" an edgy tension. "Winter Wonderland" is a spectacular work, bordering on prog rock, as if Emerson, Lake & Palmer had re-formed to whip up a winter blizzard gone amok. While most of the Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas albums are largely instrumental, Davis has employed the considerable talents of University of Michigan's Glee Club to sing on "O Tannenbaum," respectfully fading their elegant, full vocals around the pristine voice of Johnny Mathis, elevating this German carol to a cinematic peak. Don't miss out on the clever liner notes, which give the reader a whimsical, anecdotal history of the 12 songs. --Jaan Uhelszki

Product Description

Christmas Extraordinaire is an innovative collection of seasonal treasures played on a combination of 18th-century instruments and modern-day synthesizers, drums, and electric guitars. For material, Mannheim Steamroller asked their fans to choose their favorite holiday selections and vote on their Web site. The results of the poll are a mix of old and new, with slightly more emphasis on the modern. Format: Audio CD, one disc Label: American Gramaphone ISBN: 012805122528Tracks:1. Hallelujah 4:43 2. White Christmas 3:35 3. Away in a Manger 3:23 4. Faeries 2:29 5. Do You Hear What I Hear? 4:06 6. The First Noel 3:38 7. Silver Bells 4:28 8. Fum, Fum, Fum 4:51 9. Some Children See Him 3:34 10. Winter Wonderland 3:42 11. O Tannenbaum / Johnny Mathis 3:01 12. Auld Lang Syne 3:42

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of their Best!, December 7, 2001

By 

rodboomboom (Dearborn, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Christmas Extraordinaire (Audio CD)

Having enjoyed their efforts over the years, this one is in my humble offering, the finest to date!

This is fusion music at its best--jazz, classical, folk, new age, all woven into tasteful and well thought out, produced and performed works.

The "Hallelujah" effort is breathtaking! Outset gave me reserve to tamper with such, but The Steamroller pulls it off with delight and reverence! Their renditions of "Away in A Manger" "Do You hear what I hear" and my favorite: "Faeries."

The addition of UofM Glee Club and Johnny Mathis are nice touch, which adds to the enjoyment and variety. This is just happy, relaxing, reverent updates of scores we all like to hear.

Provides nice variety to pop into the CD and place on "Scramble" mode, jumping from CD track to CD track, providing bit of every style.

Highly recommend!

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Extraordinaire" Nostalgia At It's Best!, November 20, 2001

By 

S. Kelley (Cleveland,Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Christmas Extraordinaire (Audio CD)

I have been a bit perplexed over the past few weeks, reading the reviews for this year's Mannheim Steamroller Christmas cd. It seems like one really, really loved it or one didn't. While out doing my early Christmas shopping, I ran across a copy and picked it up for my Mannheim Steamroller music library. I popped it in my car's cd player as I went from one place to the next. I found this year's offerings utterly relaxing and delightful. It brought memories of the classic Christmas movies and I could actually invision Bing Crosby gliding along on skates singing along in my mind as I listened to "White Christmas".

This year's offerings are just what Chip said he was looking to do...."bring Christmas Carols back to the sound of their origins in the Reniassance". He succeeded, in my opinion, 100%. Haven't we all remembered fondly a Christmas of Yesteryear and wish just for a moment to be able to revisit that time?

...I do feel that Johnny Mathis is rather out of place in this particular recording. Mr. Mathis is a renowned singer who many would not do Christmas sounds without during their holiday season and he is talented. It's just the two sounds didn't blend too well as I found personally, it kind of jerked me out of the mellow nostalgia I was experiencing.

This is a must for any Mannheim Steamroller library and Christmas collection. Thanks Mr. Davis, I so enjoy the walk down Christmas memory lane! In this age of hustle and bustle, it is nice to find music so relaxing and nostalgic.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Maybe I expected too much, November 22, 2001

By 

David W Troska (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christmas Extraordinaire (Audio CD)

I wrote a review of this album a few weeks back, when I first received as a freebie from American Gramaphone, and at the time I had awarded it 5 stars. Now, after several listenings, I'm afraid I'll have to knock off a star or two. Don't get me wrong, if you liked Mannheim's previous albums, you'll probably like this, but it definitely lacks something.

It starts off with a typical, almost cliche Mannheim flourish, by taking Handel's beautiful and majestic Hallelujah chorus and devolving it into something that sounds closer to "Chariots of Fire." Good music if you're running track, I guess, but is it Christmas... I don't know. Still, you should enjoy the energy of this opening piece while it lasts, because the next five tracks are little more than lullabyes. I've always liked Chip Davis' softer pieces, and he does them well here, but he throws too many of them together. After several tracks, what should have sounded nostalgic just sounds depressingly dreary. "Faeries" (from The Nutcracker) almost seems as it wants to be this album's equivalent of "Little Drummer Boy," (from "A Fresh Aire Christmas"), but it never builds up enough, which is unfortunate since it could helped liven things up.

"Fum Fum Fum" remains my favorite piece. It gives a much needed shot of energy to the album, and it relies on real Renaissance instruments, rather than Chip's tired MIDI instruments. If more of the album had sounded like this, I would have to give it five stars.

Chip claims to have written this album in only a few months. If that were entirely true, it would be easier to forgive some of its shortcomings. But the arrangement of "Auld Lang Syne" which appears on this album is the same as what he had done on his Impressions album... he merely changed some of the synthesizer sounds and added a choir. Fortunately, it'll be new to most people since Impressions didn't sell particularly well, and it's a good arrangement-- but it still feels as though he cheated (especially since the big yellow sticker on the album cover proclaims, "ALL NEW MUSIC".)

So should you buy it? Yes, if you already listened to their previous albums and enjoyed them. But if you've only just heard of Mannheim Steamroller and want to try one of their Christmas albums, you really should start with "A Fresh Aire Christmas," which is a truly great album, and then come back to this one later.