Midnight Clear

Andreas Vollenweider

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 24, 2006)
• Original Release Date: October 24, 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Denon Records
• ASIN: B000I2J7YK
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #119,444 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The surprise here isn't that Andreas Vollenweider has recorded a Christmas CD. The surprise is it took him this long to do it. He's never recorded covers before, but his mixture of fantasy and exotica make him a perfect candidate to score a Yuletide album. At his best, he makes these carols sound like they fell full-blown on his harp. He completely reworks the familiar themes not the way a jazz band might, improvising solos off the main melody, but completely recasting the melody itself. On the best songs, including "The Holly and the Ivy" and "Yorkshire Wassail," he fragments and inverts the tune, often using only the seed of the carol for his explorations. Vollenweider goes beyond the traditional repertoire with songs like "Over the Hills and Over the Vale," an adaptation of the medieval "In Vernale Tempore" that he turns into a chamber music jaunt with recorders, cellos, and percussion. Although he makes meticulously crafted music, it's easy to forget that Vollenweider creates most of his work through improvisation. That is the key to these personal interpretations of Christmas carols on. Longtime but occasional collaborator Carly Simon turns up on several tunes, and--helped by greeting-card instrumental versions of "Carol of the Drums" and "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" (on which she does not perform)--threatens to push the album into maudlin terrain. That's the nature of the Christmas beast, but despite these lapses, they still don't sabotage the often simple charm of Vollenweider's inventive, nostalgically gilded instrumentals. --John Diliberto

Product Description
First holiday title from Andreas Vollenweider, one of the world's most popular ambient/new age artists!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Midnight Clear is WONDERFUL, October 24, 2006

By	B_4 - See all my reviews

May I first address the AMAZON review written by a John Diliberto.

Carly Simon does not appear on Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring or Carol of the Drums
--both songs are wonderful instrumentals.

Mr Vollenweider treats us to stunning interpretations of classic Christmas songs such as The Holly and The Ivy (11th century, France) and Child in a Manger (Gaelic folk song).

He also introduces the uneducated music fan, like myself, to some amazing songs like The Coventry Carol (15th century, England), The Wexford Carol (12th Century, England), Over the Hills and Over the Vale (15th century Italy) and many more...

Andreas and Ms. Simon bring this collection into 2006 and beyond with 4 songs sung by Ms Simon. The classic MIDNIGHT CLEAR (revisited), SUSPENDED NOTE (original), FORGIVE (original) and HYMN TO THE SECRET HEART (original).

This is an album that I will play year round.

It is soothing to my soul.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars + 1/2 stars...Vollenweider Finally Releases a Holiday Album, November 1, 2006

By	Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

As a fan of Christmas music in general and harpist Andreas Vollenweider in particular, this new release is a real treat. Over the course of 13 mostly traditional--with some original--songs, Vollenweider's music invokes the feeling of the holidays.

In addition to tracks that date back to the 11th and 12 Centuries ("The Holly and the Ivy" and "The Wexford Carol" respectively), there are four original songs: "Midnight Clear," "Suspended Note," "Forgive" and "Hymn to the Secret Heart," (all composed by Vollenweider, Carly Simon, keyboardist Teese Gohl and sound engineer Jimmy Parr--except for "Forgive," a Vollenweider/Simon collaboration). Simon sings vocals on these four tracks.

Standout tracks are "The Coventry Carol," "What Child Is This?" "Carol of the Drum" and "Child in the Manger." The lyrical quality of Vollenweider's harp playing on these tracks is spellbinding.

Of this project, Vollenweider wrote: "...we are by our nature profoundly spiritual beings, whether we like it or not. We always will be magnetically attracted by the miraculous." The music contained on this album speaks to that sentiment. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Christmas music from The Land of Whowouldathunkit., December 23, 2006

By	Joseph Ekaitis "author of Collinsfort Village" (Southern California) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Andreas Vollenweider Christmas album. Four words we thought we'd never see together, and yet here it is.

At his website (see the track listing image above for the address), Andreas Vollenweider explains the how and why of a Christmas album from a musician and anti-war proponent who was always more into mysticism than religion. No, he hasn't been baptized but he acknowledges that the underlying spirituality of religion is essential in healing the world's ills and even points to Jesus Christ's Sermon on the Mount as guidance for all of humanity.

The selections and performances are vibrant testaments of his convictions: a generous helping of traditional carols, a little Papa Bach and a few original works all wrapped up in Vollenweider's trademark electric harp with some Carly Simon vocals. Happily, it sounds like he's kept alive a performance practice that dates back to his earliest works, specifically those lush enveloping bass notes played on the harp at the same time as the melody and harmony.

The titles are better described as inspirations because Vollenweider makes each melody his own. "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" becomes a spirited waltz on the harp that veers pleasantly into jazz club improvisation when the clarinet comes in. "The Little Drummer Boy" emerges as "Carol of the Drum" and "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" features a lesser-known melody, neither the traditional nor the occasionally heard "Forest Green." Other surprises include bouncing "The Coventry Carol" back and forth between Mayan flutes and cool jazz.

"Midnight Clear" is a delight and destined to become for this century what the Ray Conniff Singers and Mannheim Steamroller were in the previous. Even more enchanting are the possibilities it opens for future albums. Dare we hope a few of Handel's harp concertos will someday leap from Vollenweider's magical strings?