Customer Reviews

What If Mozart Wrote "White Christmas"

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I found the following helpful review at [...] regarding the original production of these arrangements with a string quartet and the more recent orchestral recording, which had apparently been the original vision:

Your all-time favorite Christmas Songs as if composed by the most famous of classical composers!
From the magical land of the Midnight Sun and Father Christmas comes The Northern Lights Orchestra playing the most popular Christmas songs as if Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy or Brahms had composed them for string orchestra. Conducted by the Finnish conductor Petri Juutilanen, this joyful recording captures the season's spirit.

"This started in 1986," said Warren Schatz, the man behind the project, "when I produced the `What if Mozart Wrote Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas' record. It was released in 25 countries and stayed in the catalog for over 23 years. Originally I envisioned it as an orchestral project but had to settle for a string quartet due to budget constrictions. After 23 years I can finally realize this project the way that I conceived it!"

I was excited to see what I thought was a new "What If (insert composer here) Wrote" Christmas cd. While the music is excellent, purchasers should be aware that a fair number of the selections sound like they were directly lifted from a 1986 RCA/Victor release by the Hampton String Quartet called "What If Mozart Wrote 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas'". I find this a bit disappointing. The supposed artist of this "new" cd is the Northern Lights Orchestra; I'm not sure if they redid the music, but it sure sounds exactly like the HSQ recording I already own. Perhaps the HSQ changed its name? Whatever the case may be, the music is great; I could only rate it 2 stars, though, based on the fact that it's not all new material.

I have owned and loved the String Quartet recordings for many years and think that this recording blows the quartet stuff out of the water. I've bought copies for stocking stuffers this year. This sounds like this is the way it was meant to be. It's so grand and glorious. This is a must have record. Going to play it during Christmas Dinner.

This album would make good elevator music for a Christmas party. But they've made everything sound alike -- not much variety of timbre avaiable with only strings. And they've chosen everything except standard Christmas carols, settling instead for all secular seasonal music. I was disappointed.

This is just the rerelease of various tracks from the CDs "What If Mozart Wrote "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and "What If Mozart Wrote "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" that were published previously under the group named " the Hampton String Quartet" by the same producer. I had thought that it was new material and bought it because I had liked the previous two. Even the cover is in the same style. So beware.

Listening to this CD is just fun! Christmas songs have been arranged according to Mozart's techniques. It's a nice change of pace to the usual Christmas albums.

I would agree with the comment that it's great music, but I would give it 5 stars, for classiness. The record really sounds good.

This is not a CD of Mozart-styled songs. Instead, it is a CD of pleasant string orchestrations of songs. I expected this to be a more serious analysis of the songs and a more serious application of various composers' styles, including Mozart.

Very little of these songs have a real "Mozart" sound, other than a bit of ornamentation. It's not a terrible thing, but as is said in "Green Card," "It's not Mozart."

I would not recommend this CD except as nice background music.

I grew up listening to all kinds of different music. I listen to anything From Flamenco, Metal, Arabic, to Rock, Blues, Classical and Jazz. I am also a musician. That being said, I would like to say that this album is a gem! Not only is it well produced, but the arrangements and instrumentation is wonderful.

Worth it!

This is my first Northern Lights Orchestra cd and I had this particular cd in my cart for over a year. I finally ordered it and I am so glad I did. I like to have a variety of Christmas music and this cd will be perfect background music for entertaining. It is lively, uplifting, festive music that won't overtake the room, but will add greatly to it. It not only has the classic oldies, but some not "quite" as old ones as well. Who knew The Chipmunk Song could sound so lovely? You can't help but have a smile on your face when this cd is playing. I shouldn't have waited so long to order it.