Customer Reviews

James Galway's Christmas Carol

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I enjoy the combination of flute and choir, and this collection is extraordinary. Galway's sound is superb and the arrangements well done. There was a good blend of classic Christmas music, and classical favorites. I recommend it to my flute students highly.

If you could own one & only one Christmas CD,this would be it!Classic music taking you back to childhood memories.No modern re-worked garbage that keeps coming out these days.Wow,I am really starting to sound old! :)

You don't need to be a flute-lover to enjoy this disc. This is a wonderful compilation of traditional Christmas pieces. Galway plays a few solos, accompanies a few choral pieces, and the choir sings a few pieces on their own as well. Inobtrusive as background music, but still beautiful under scrutiny, this is hands-down my favorite Christmas CD.

Although I'm a fan of the Christmas recordings that Sir David Willcocks abd Stephen Cleobury did with the King's College Choir, this little gem of a classical Christmas album has its own unexpected beauties. I discovered this Christmas album in the collection of a family member, and was struck by its transcendent loveliness. It's a joyful, uplifting, and exquisite celebration of Christmas, and specifically the Reason for the Season, and it's a skilful blend of the old and the new. It's a perfect blend of instrumental and vocal, lively and tender moments, and James Galway's flute wraps around you like a rich velvety fur coat.

The opening track of Silent Night sets the tone of the recording almost immediately. The choir sings it beautifully, accompanied by Galway's obligato descant. Although I would have liked them to sing the original John Freeman Young translation that we all know, it's still a lovely rendition. The choir shines on some of the other tracks, such as John Rutter's famous Shepherd's Pipe Carol and the Czech Zither Carol, but most of the time Galway accompanies them, contrasting the tenderness of What Child Is This and I Wonder as I Wander with the boisterous Past Three A Clock. Elsewhere, Galway really shines in the many solos he plays throughout the recording. His rendition of John Ireland's The Holy Boy is beautiful beyond words and reason. In more upbeat mood the Fantasia on I Saw Three Ships blends the well-known carol with other carols, and one can really hear a certain joie de vivre here. It's as if Galway really enjoyed playing this piece, and I think the listener can soak in the infectious gaiety here. By the time you reach the closing minutes of this album, you feel like you're in good Christmas cheer, after you've soaked in the distinctly old-world charm of this Christmas offering, far away from the cacophony of commercialism that has ravaged the season many times.

In short, a self-recommending Christmas album that can serve as lovely background music to a Christmas party and yet it stands up well to serious listening. I'm convinced it appeals to those who haven't yet grown to love the ethereal, plaintive yet crystal-clear timbre of the flute, and I think it has something to please everyone, in varying moods and style.

You may find this CD's opening track, "Silent Night," particularly striking. It's not the usual John Freeman Young translation, but a newer one by British conductor and composer Sir David Willcocks. Since the song was never a literal translation of Josef Mohr's "Stille Nacht" text, there's certainly no reason NOT to try out a new version of the text, but the new lyrics certainly jump out at you, especially if you're trying to sing along. Likely, James Galway wanted to honor one of his contemporaries (Willcocks is 89 and still very much alive as of this writing.) Like Young's version, this newer text is anything but a strict literal translation. If anything, it seems that Willcocks may have been striving to capture some of the solemnity found in some of the originals numerous verses.

I suspect some may find this version's final verse (ending with the words "Christ the incarnate God") a bit clunkier than John Freeman Young's "Jesus Lord at thy birth." It certainly is weightier, but I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

In any event, it's nice to have a few holiday surprises on a Christmas album and this "Silent Night"certainly offers a bit of that--as does the piece "Jesus Christ the Apple Tree," an Elizabeth Poston composition(based on an anonymous American text), a composition I had never heard before. Of course, you can't exactly ignore the traditional either, and most of the selections includen on CHRISTMAS CAROL--whether they are truly carols or classical pieces--are pretty much what you might expect from a James Galway Christmas record.

And that's scarcely a bad thing. Galway has teamed up with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Singers, and the Chapel Choir of King's School (Canterbury) to produce a lovely seasonal album that's mostly on the meditative side but picks up the pace often enough with numbers like "Zither Carol," "Patapan" and a rousing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" to close out the proceedings.

The arrangements, both choral and instrumental, are consistently inventive without being showy. The focus is not just on Galway's flute, although whenever he does take center stage, as on his arrangement of Ireland's "The Holy Boy," he shines. Overall though, the album is just the right blend of the choral and the instrumental. Great holiday fare.

A wonderful little compilation of holiday favorites with the always popular flutist Sir James Galway, which could only be enjoyed by me more if I could find the score to his version of "I Wonder as I Wander" instead of having to notate it myself for flute, children's voices, and other instrumentation. To date, no score can be found. Regardless, this is a nice CD for those new to classical music or James Galway and fans alike.

I have many Christmas CDs, but this is #1. It is not Christmas without this CD being played. It is very beautiful, and you will enjoy the variety of tracks, which include both instrumental and choral selections. It is very peaceful and lovely.

The master, James Galway, shows a depth of feeling in these carols. He never outshines the choir, but his harmonies in some of the arrangements are sheer joy to hear. The choir is a little hard to understand, because this was obviously not recorded in the best of places. There is some hollowness to the sound, but otherwise it is cetain to become a holiday favorite. This is very good for people who do not really care for the flute. There is not the shrillness even in the top notes!!

This is one of my favorite Christmas albums (of a very large collection). It has a beautiful version of "Jesus Christ, the Apple Tree."

Not your ordinary Chrstmas music. It is lovely and very nice to listen to while sitting by the lighted tree.