The Christmas Revels: In Celebration of the Winter Solstice

Va-Christmas Revels | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 11, 2011)
• Original Release Date: September 21, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Revels Records
• ASIN: B0000002AZ
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,278 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The Christmas Revels: In Celebration of the Winter Solstice by The Christmas Revels

This product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome Yule!, November 26, 2002

By 

C. Mooney "chanteuse39" (Phila, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Christmas Revels: In Celebration of the Winter Solstice (Audio CD)

This is without a doubt, hands down the VERY BEST Christmas CD in existence. And no, I'm not being dramatic. This music has actually become part of my family's Christmas tradition. We keep ourselves in suspense until Christmas Eve, and then we finally put on the CD and listen and dance and sing along together. Please give yourself and your family the gift of this music. It is worth every penny, 20 times over.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revels without a Claus, December 10, 2007

By 

Robert D. Harmon "bobnbob3" (Mill Valley, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Christmas Revels: In Celebration of the Winter Solstice (MP3 Download)

If you've seen any of the Christmas Revels live performances, which appear in a number of cities during the holiday season, you'll see an intimate performance of singers, choruses (including children's), dancers and instrumental ensembles, all of it first rate. The Revels are meant to evoke an earlier Christmas, the solstice celebration of the end of the year, of death and rebirth, as celebrated in feasting and cameraderie of a small village.

This album is the stereotypical Revels, and begins with the haunting Abbot's Bromley Horn Dance for the Morris dancers (typically in the show), and the spoken introductions that would open and carry the show throughout. The sword dance is there, as is the Lord of the Dance (to the tune of Simple Gifts) that marks the end of the first act -- and in which the entire audience dances out through the theater to the lobby, led by the cast.

There's also the majestic Sussex Mummer's Carol ("God bless the master of this house ...") at the end, in which the audience joins, and here it is sung in its typical arrangement. This carol ends all Revels Christmas shows, whatever the show's theme, and it is as moving a carol as you'll ever hear.

I have this album in CD -- same material -- and I recommend you buy it in full if you're downloading it, since it is the full show and worth the experience.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dance Then! WhereEVER you may be., December 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Christmas Revels: In Celebration of the Winter Solstice (Audio CD)

Christmas Revels is an experience like no other. In the truest form of community theater the cast develops a neighborhood of families of all ethnic and material standing and presents Christmas as it may have been. Come with us, and celebrate the shortest day! Go Yule!