5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating Irish Christmas album, September 8, 2004
This review is from: An Irish Holiday (Audio CD)
This album appears to have been released with two different titles, the American version being An Irish holiday while the British version is An Irish Christmas. As there is clearly no difference in the music, this review applies equally to either. Some of the songs are familiar and some not but even the familiar songs sound very different here to the way I normally hear them. The music has a traditional Irish feel to it but the music does not easily fit any classification although the album as a whole flows well.
The Celtic Tenors provide a touch of opera with their renditions of Danny boy and Adeste Fideles (O come all ye faithful), which blends perfectly with the rest of the album. The Voice Squad, an a-capella group, sing The holly she bears a berry and The parting glass. A children's choir from Slane National School sing Away in a manger in English. Later in the album, they do a fine Gallic version of Silent night as Oiche Ciuin. Phil Coulter contributes an instrumental version of Oh holy night and a vocal version of Steal away. Frank McCourt narrates an excerpt from his book, Angela's ashes. Roma Downey, Ger Kiely, Brian Kennedy, Maura O'Connell and Moya Brennan all provide excellent contributions.
Apart from those like me who are always looking for something different, I'm not clear who this mix of folk, a-capella, choral and operatic music will appeal to most. Maybe the purity and quality of the performances here will appeal to listeners of all those types of music. It deserves to.
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