CD-Charts Position 1
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The John Rutter Collection

CD-Charts > Music > Traditional and Carols
from: Universal Classics

Release Date October 21, 2002
Ths album is pure joy and tranquility. Anyone who has ever been lucky enough to be part of a choir singing Rutter might immediately remember why you enjoyed it so much. (15 years ago last time I was in a choir singing - "For the beauty of the earth").

Even if you don't like choral music normally - this is light, accessible and rejuvinating. Wonderful after a bad day or to kick off a good one.

In short, not too bad.

CD-Charts Position 2
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Vaughan Williams: Fantasia On Christmas Carols, Hodie

CD-Charts > Music > Traditional and Carols
from: British Composers

Release Date October 02, 2000
I bought this a couple of years ago and return to it regularly - a sure sign of a good recording. I like the music of Vaughan Williams and this is a good example of his music. The Fantasia was a big surprise - its a lovely setting of some well known carols. John Barrow has a superb baritone voice. The Hodie takes a little more getting into but it is worth the effort. Both choirs and orchestra have good sounds. At this price you can't go wrong!

CD-Charts Position 3
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James Galway and Phil Coulter: Winter's Crossing

CD-Charts > Music > Traditional and Carols
from: RCA Classics

Release Date October 05, 1998
This CD is absolutely brilliant. I originally bought it because I heard the track 'Home Away From Home' on Classic FM and wanted to come down the aisle to it, but I quickly fell in love with the whole CD, and so did my fiance. The last four tracks are my favourites but as the tracks tell their tale, they are alternately sad, thoughtful, lively and uplifting. It has some fantastic music on it - if you love Irish music and particularly the flute, viola and piano, this is the CD for you. I have since bought this CD for my mum, who also loves it, and have bought the sheet music so some friends can play it in piano and flute duet at our wedding.

CD-Charts Position 4
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The Muppet Christmas Carol

CD-Charts > Music > Traditional and Carols
by: Original Soundtrack

Release Date September 04, 2006
Possibly the best album of all time. Kermit has an especially fantastic voice, a cross between an early Cat Stevens and David Gray in his latest album, Life in Slow Motion. However, I think his rendition of One More Night till Christmas perhaps eclipses both these two great artists. I had heard rumours of a contract with Sony BMG and a solo career, but have no idea why it hasn't materialised. The song Love Is Gone is also an absolute classic, and brings tears to my eyes, especially the second version Track 18, which is perhaps the stand-out song of the entire album (which is saying a lot). Michael Caine also impressed me, and although not perhaps with quite the same talent as Kermit, or even Tiny Tim (whom reminds me of a young Aled Jones, and ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
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Hickox Conducts Vaughan Williams

CD-Charts > Music > Traditional and Carols
from: British Composers

Release Date June 05, 2000
This double CD album, a mixture of Vaughan Williams's most popular and rarely-heard music, is a cherishable collection indeed for the excellent performances contained in it, the constant delight the music affords, and the fact that both discs are full to the brim with an embarrassment of riches.

Richard Hickox is a most gifted interpreter of RVW, and these performances see him - and the Northern Sinfonia - at their peak. The soloists in the concerti are also heard at their best - Bradley Creswick in the Concerto Accademico, and Roger Winfield in the Oboe Concerto.

The first disc has a most attractive mixture, much of it comparative rarities, starting with the orchestral version of the Serenade to Music, and includes the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
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The Carols Album

CD-Charts > Music > Traditional and Carols
by: The Choirboys

Release Date December 03, 2007
This sounded great on the TV AD BUT WAS A BIT DISAPOINTED FELT IT WAS MUCH OF A MUCHNESS AND WILL HAVE NO DIFFICULTY IN WAITING UNTIL christmas 2008 to play it again.

CD-Charts Position 7
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The John Rutter Christmas Album

CD-Charts > Music > Traditional and Carols
from: Collegium

Release Date November 04, 2002
I thought this CD had got lost in our recent house move and was delighted when it turned up in one the last boxes to be opened. I immediately rushed to listen again even though it is early March and am once again entranced by the warmth and beauty of the music and the singing. You really can play this CD anytime in the year and that is what I am doing now! If you buy it you will not be disappointed!

CD-Charts Position 8
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Vaughan Williams - Hodie; Fantasia on Christmas Carols

CD-Charts > Music > Traditional and Carols
by: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Stephen Gadd

Release Date October 29, 2007
This is a great CD. I had always thought that Hodie, despite great moments of inspiration (such as the marvellously inspiriting conclusion)was a rather inferior score to earlier choral scores like Sancta Civitas and Dona Nobis Pacem, but Hilary Davan Wetton's new Naxos (super-budget) version has forced me to revise my earlier view. I still believe that the beautiful Sancta Civitas is Vaughan Williams's choral masterpiece ( although Dona Nobis Pacem and the late, neglected Epithalamion are, respectively, works of great power and beauty) but Hodie comes across as a much greater score in this recording. The main reason for this, I think, is because the conductor takes many crucial sections at a considerably slower tempo than David Willcocks in his fine EMI ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
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Vaughan Williams: Vocal Works

CD-Charts > Music > Traditional and Carols
from: Hyperion

Release Date July 01, 1994
This is a splendid disc! The Serenade to Music is performed in its original version for soloists which is quite different (better?) than the subsequent choral version. The soloists present a marvellous account and the orchestral textures provide a ravishing counterpoint. Of particular note is the violin solo at the beginning which ably sets the scene for this account.
The Mystical Songs (text by George Herbert) are wonderfully sung by Thomas Allen and yet again are accompanied with great sensitivity and skill. The orchestral texture in Love bade me welcome is particularly fine as is Allen's performance which captures the tentative steps of the narrator into relationship with the Divine with an understated passion.
Nabuko Imai's Viola Solo at the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
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The World of Vaughan Williams

CD-Charts > Music > Traditional and Carols
from: Universal Classics

Release Date February 13, 1991
This is a great album with some excellent music on. It is very relaxing to just sit down and listen to it.