Customer Reviews

A Composer's Christmas

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This is a very interesting album of familiar Christmas Songs played in the styles of famous classical composers, but all done on multi-layer synthesizer by a single player. The melodies are intertwined with familiar but altered sonics of famous orchestra and piano pieces. Extremely well done and extremely subtle. Its great to play this album in the background and watch the faces of people as they realize that it is a christmas album. I highly recommend this album to anyone with a like for classical music, and it is especially good for children to listen to and learn about classical styles. Can't wait for the inevitable Volume II!

This wonderful recording deserved so much more publicity and promotion than it had when it was released several years ago. "A Composer's Christmas" is an ingenious program of Christmas carols channeled in the styles of the great composers. One moment, you'll think you're hearing Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and then you realize it's actually the "'We Wish You a Merry Christmas' Concerto for Violin and Orchestra." Other standouts include the "'Deck the Halls' Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra," a clever spinoff of Beethoven's Choral Fantasy; the "'O Holy Night' Prelude" after Wagner's Tannhauser; "O Come All Ye Faithful to the Great Gate" after Mussorgsky; and "O Come Emmanuel Concerto No.2" after Rachmaninov's formidable second piano concerto. All material is intelligently and carefully realized, arranged, and performed by Mr. Baker. Absolutely one of the most unique Christmas collections out there. The only way this disc could get any better is if it could receive a full symphonic recording treatment. Hopefully that is not far off on the horizon, as well as a sequel to this collection!