The Naxos Book of Carols

Christmas Traditional (Composer), New English Hymnal (Composer), Thomas Olivers (Composer), Michael Praetorius (Composer), English Traditional (Composer), English Anonymous (Composer), Orlando Gibbons (Composer), Felix [1] Mendelssohn (Composer), Franz Xaver Gruber (Composer), William James Kirkpatrick (Composer), Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), John Francis Wade (Composer), John Henry, Jr. Hopkins (Composer), Anonymous (Composer), Antony Pitts (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Christmas Traditional, New English Hymnal, Thomas Olivers, Michael Praetorius, English Traditional, et al.
• Audio CD (October 26, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B0000EI9W9
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #282,831 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Variations & Value, December 1, 2005

By 

W.D. Potter - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Naxos Book of Carols (Audio CD)

This CD contains some wonderful variations of traditional Christmas carols. O Little Town of Bethlehem is hauntingly beautiful. The Holly and the Ivy is delightful. One of my favorite holiday songs, Personent Hodie, is particularly interesting and well done. And all of this at a true value price!

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Tone down the organ and I'd love it!, December 22, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Naxos Book of Carols (Audio CD)

Pitts's new tune for O Little Town of Bethlehem is very appealing, and the alternate tune for The Holly and the Ivy in some verses is beautiful. The arangements for O Come and Of the Father's Love Begotten are very striking.
The singers are good, whether as soloists or in chorus and their pronunciation is very clear. However, the organ is sometimes allowed to drown them out! And, at least for my taste, the organ ornamentation is very often far too discordant. Fortunately this does not happen in every song, and when it does occur, it is usually for one verse only.
Most of these arangements and settings I would love to hear again without the organ. Then I'd give it more stars!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something new and refreshing, December 12, 2008

By 

David C. Buursma - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Naxos Book of Carols (Audio CD)

This is a wonderful group of eight singers called Tonus Peregrinus. They have a clean sound, and near perfect execution. All of the carols are arranged by Anthony Pitts who deals very creatively with the problem of how to arrange familiar carols to render them fresh and appealing without submitting them to torture. My opinion is that the arrangements are very clever and worthwhile. Especially beautiful are "O little town of Bethlehem" and "Jesu, the very thought is sweet." Even the listener who has many, many Christmas CD's will find this to be a refreshing addition to their library.