Bloggerhythms

In short, Festival of the Heart is one of the best Christmas albums ever recorded. Even the cover art is gorgeous. The crystal clear production of this totally instrumental CD is only one of the many wonders you will notice upon listening to John Boswell's beautiful arrangements of fourteen immortal Christmas classics plus two of his originals. Most of these traditional songs are heard so often over the holiday season one tends to forget that many of these carols are some of the best melodies ever written. Boswell's sparse arrangements remind you that Christmas carols are music and not just audio decorations that complement your nutcracker and tree ornaments. His intensely melodic piano playing makes you understand and appreciate just how beautiful the melodies to "O Come All Ye Faithful," "Silent Night," "What Child Is This (Greensleeves)," and "O Holy Night" really are. Boswell’s supporting cast enhances each track while playing su...

Orchestral music has never been a focus of this blog but today a big symphony rules.  The Boston Pops Orchestra, now headed by Keith Lockhart, previously by John Williams, and even earlier by the late, great Arthur Fiedler (who made them the most popular orchestra in the world) recorded my all time favorite piece of Christmas music. Fiedler and The Pops' begin their 1959 Christmas record with a powerful 8:44 salvo called "A Christmas Festival" which also happens to be the title track of the album it came from.  This medley of eight traditional carols and songs was arranged by Leroy Anderson who is best known for the orchestra's famous version of "Sleigh Ride" on the same record.  It was released on CD in 1990.  I have a rule in my house (totally disrespected by everyone but me) that stipulates Christmas music may not be played before Thanksgiving morning and not until I conduct The Boston Pops playing this wonderful medley. No other Christmas musi...

Front cover It's been a few years since Starbucks scaled back their entertainment division although their cafés continue to carry CDs that are appealing to upscale pop music fans. What is missing today are the discs the coffee giant packaged themselves, most of them compilations. Stockings By The Fire is one of their past Christmas collections and the people at Starbucks Entertainment did a very nice job assembling these sixteen songs for your 2007 holiday listening pleasure. Even though the recordings on Stockings By The Fire cover a period of over fifty years it should fulfill listeners of all ages. Timeless icons such as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, and Ella Fitzgerald are represented but so are more current singers such as Rufus Wainwright, Jack Johnson, Aimee Mann, Corrine Bailey Rae, and The Bird and The Bee (featuring the late Lowell George's daughter, Inara). Two artists most of us have never heard of, Hem and A Fine Frenzy, are also included. ...

Anyone who has followed Shelby Lynne closely through the years knows that her irreverence and fierce independence allow the strong-willed singer-songwriter to do what she wants with her career, so the fact that she recorded a Christmas album, something that is nothing more than a commercial venture for many artists, is very surprising. Nevertheless, Merry Christmas , Lynne’s second CD release of 2010, and the second one in a row on her own Everso label, is one of the highlights of all the holiday offerings this year. Lynne has long been known for her outstanding body of original work but with two of her last three albums she has also proven to be a superb interpreter of other people’s music. Just A Little Lovin’ , her 2008 tribute to the late Dusty Springfield, was the first testament to that fact and Merry Christmas is the second. This superbly arranged and produced holiday disc is typical of the singer-songwriter in many ways. The music is as unpretentious as the CD’s title ...