A Merry Mancini Christmas

Katherine K. Davis (Composer), Various Composers (Composer), Mel Torme (Composer), Irving Berlin (Composer), Henry Mancini (Composer), Henry Mancini (Conductor), Henry Mancini & His Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Henry Mancini & His Orchestra
• Conductor: Henry Mancini
• Composer: Katherine K. Davis, Various Composers, Mel Torme, Irving Berlin, Henry Mancini
• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000002W4Q
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,479 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #48 in Music > Miscellaneous > Holiday > Pop Instrumental & Easy Listening

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Like his good friend Esquivel, Henry Mancini mixed some mean orchestral Christmas cocktails. But where Esquivel was possessed by wackiness and whimsy, Mancini played things fairly straight and still managed to create a sound that defined his career and an era. Sadly, the selections here are pedestrian, even by the well-trodden holiday boulevard standards. "White Christmas," "The Little Drummer Boy," and "The Christmas Song" all benefit nonetheless from Mancini's genius for timing and dynamics. Even the mundane "Frosty the Snowman" gets some new life breathed into him thanks to Mancini's arrangement, and "Carols for Another Christmas" is a good example of Mancini's hip restraint. Merry Mancini Christmas, while not the maestro at his best, still imparts some of that madcap, martini-era holiday spirit as only Mancini knew. --Steve Gdula

Product Description

Mancini was in the midst of his run of hit RCA LPs when this string-soaked holiday gem came out in '66: The Little Drummer Boy; White Christmas; The Christmas Song; Carol for Another Christmas , and six medleys full of Christmas classics! --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mancini is Magical, December 14, 2004

By 

A. Sloan (Cary, NC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Merry Mancini Christmas (Audio CD)

I come from a very large family and since the mid-sixties when my parents bought it we'd play this album during the holidays. We played it until you could hardly hear some of the songs without the crackling and skipping the LP's were notorious for. By the time it was totally inaudible the LP wasn't being made any longer. We were all crushed because our Christmas mainstay album was gone. (Particularly because we lost both parents some years ago within 2 months of each other and we always listened as a family to this album.) When the CD came out we were overjoyed to say the least. I ALWAYS cry as do all of us in my family when "Carol for Another Christmas" plays because it holds such dear memories of my parents listening to us massacre that song on our instruments EVERY SINGLE CHRISTMAS!!! But they always swore we played beautifully.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Little Restraint & Touch of Jazz Makes Classy Christmas CD, December 5, 2000

By 

Anthony G Pizza "trivialtony" (FL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Merry Mancini Christmas (Audio CD)

You notice the Christmas songs first. Yuletide carols being sung by a choir, blared from mall sound systems and car radios (and hopefully, churches), heard over TV specials and commercials. Regardless of when stores dress for the holidays, the seasonal music signals us to prepare and cheers us while we do. The songs are so beloved and familiar even to casual listeners that any singer or instrumentalist need only keep them anchored to the season's sentiments to render them successfully. In other words, remember what the songs mean and don't get cute.

"A Merry Mancini Christmas" is neither the best Henry Mancini nor traditional Christmas album, but is a tasteful addition for collectors of either style. The legendary composer and arranger plays it straight on the Christmas hymns, delivering tasteful, expansive medleys featuring the beloved "O Holy Night," "O Come All Ye Faithful," and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (which falls beneath Ray Conniff's version).

Despite vocals straight from traditional easy listening (Anita Kerr, Living Voices, Ray Charles Singers), Mancini is more playful on the holiday songs. He smoothes and quickens the tempo of "Little Drummer Boy" takes time wandering through "Winter Wonderland," and adds some jazzy horns to "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer."

Those wanting their Christmas music stringier and schmaltzier are directed to Mantovani and Jackie Gleason's Christmas albums. Their orchestras deliver holiday renditions as over-the-top as a January blizzard. Here, however, a little restraint and a touch of jazz makes a Henry Mancini "Christmas" a brief, merry, and recommended one.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Classic, July 12, 2002

By 

Steven R. Seim "Steve Seim" (Beaver Dam, WI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Merry Mancini Christmas (Audio CD)

Tasteful, traditional orchestral Christmas music. More importantly, "Carol for Another Christmas" may be the most beautiful Christmas composition of the 20th Century.