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Happy Holidays 2006

Classical and Easy Listening: Download this, Santa

Prefer more traditional Christmas sounds? Classical and easy-listening CDs put some intriguing spin on the tried and true. Prefer more traditional Christmas sounds? Classical and easy-listening CDs put some intriguing spin on the tried and true.

By JOHN FLEMING
Published November 23, 2006

Let the Hallelujah choruses begin. Here's a sampling of classical, opera and easy listening holiday CDs released this year.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir The Wonder of Christmas Mormon Tabernacle Choir This is one of the better holiday concerts out on disc because the Mormons have managed to draw a starry group of soloists to Temple Square. To hear the great Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel belt out Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful is a spine-tingling thrill. Also along for the sleigh ride are Frederica von Stade, Renee Fleming, Angela Lansbury and Audra McDonald, with Walter Cronkite conducting the 360-voice choir in the Hallelujah chorus. Grade: A

Andrea Marcovicci My Christmas Song for You (AndreaSong) Andrea Marcovicci has a marginal voice at best, but that doesn't matter to her fans, who adore the cabaret singer for the smoky expressiveness she brings to standards. Nobody will ever confuse her White Christmas with Bing Crosby's, or any other rendition that is in tune, but Marcovicci's theatricality is strangely endearing. She includes some smart selections, such as The Christmas Waltz and Blue Champagne, and the Shelly Markham arrangements are first rate. Grade: B

Andre Rieu Christmas Around the World (Denon) Dutch fiddler Andre Rieu's Christmas CD is the musical equivalent of the yule log: pleasant and as traditional as can be and easy to ignore as it warbles away in the background. It features Rieu's vibrato-laden solos, three sopranos and a Japanese children's choir in numbers like Silent Night, Winter Wonderland and The Tulip Song. Grade: C

Carl Tanner Hear the Angel Voices (TMG) Up and coming tenor Carl Tanner has received plenty of hype for his rough and ready resume - he worked as a truck driver and a bounty hunter before going into opera - but his singing is for real. His stirring performance of O Holy Night tops a program of classics with Seattle's Northwest Sinfonia, conducted by Steven Mercurio. Grade: A

New Orleans Christmas (Putumayo) Listening to this album is like celebrating Christmas in a bar where the band pulls out all the stops in soulful versions of chestnuts from the Crescent City like Christmas in New Orleans (trumpeter and singer James Andrews) or Holiday Time in New Orleans (Dukes of Dixieland). A highlight: trumpeter and bandleader Gregg Stafford and the Heritage Hall Jazz Band cantering through Silver Bells. Grade: A

John Fleming can be reached at (727) 893-8716 or fleming@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 22, 2006, 11:38:11]