Search - John Rutter, Cambridge Singers and Orchestra :: Christmas Star: Carols for the Christmas Season

John Rutter, Cambridge Singers and Orchestra
Christmas Star: Carols for the Christmas Season
Genres: Special Interest, New Age, Pop, Classical

Track Listings (22) - Disc #1
1. Good Christian Men, Rejoice
2. I Wonder as I Wander
3. All My Heart This Night Rejoices
4. Silent Night
5. Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming
6. Ding Dong! Merrily on High
7. Three Kings of Orient
8. How Great Our Joy
9. Angels We Have Heard on High
10. Joy to the World
11. Away in a Manger
12. Un Flambeau, Jeannette, Isabelle
13. God Rest You Merry Gentlemen
14. What Child Is This?
15. 'Twas in the Moon of Winter Time
16. O Little One Sweet
17. Go, Tell It on the Mountain
18. Away in a Manger
19. Rise up, Shepherd, and Follow
20. The Christmas Song
21. We Wish You a Merry Christmas
22. O Come All Ye Faithful

In 1997, this recording became the most successful first-year release in Collegium history. Mastered from an original 1981 digital tape, once thought lost forever, it is actually the first-ever recording by The Cambridge S... more »

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CD Details

All Artists: John Rutter, Cambridge Singers and Orchestra
Title: Christmas Star: Carols for the Christmas Season
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Collegium
Original Release Date: 1/1/1997
Re-Release Date: 9/23/1997
Album Type: Original recording remastered
Genres: Special Interest, New Age, Pop, Classical
Styles: Holiday & Wedding, Vocal Pop, Opera & Classical Vocal, Sacred & Religious
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 040888050322

Synopsis

Album Description

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CD Reviews

Another Rutter Choral Triumph

Daniel G. Berk | West Bloomfield, Michigan | 09/21/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Once again, John Rutter works his choral magic with the Cambridge Singers and turns out another extraordinary collection of Christmas carols. All the popular ones are here, the only down side being that there are no carols composed by Rutter himself. There is one bonus, in effect, hearing the Rutter choral treatment applied to The Christmas Song by Mel Torme and Robert Wells. It's never sounded better."

Excellent choral music for the Christmas season

ottojj1@gcc.edu | Grove City, Pennsylvannia | 12/07/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A first rate disc with wonderful selections and beautiful singing. You can close your eyes and pretend as if you are in a cathedral listening the the choir."

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without this one

ottojj1@gcc.edu | 12/22/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love this CD. The voices are so pure and beautifully blended. Rutter's arrangements are brilliant. It's really hard to pick a favorite, but I do love "All My Heart This Night Rejoices." Absolutely wonderful! Anyone who appreciates good choral music should get this CD and make it part of your holidays."

New Ears For Christmas

Gregor von Kallahann | 09/30/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"When John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers released their CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL recording in October of last year, a number of people commented on the number of relatively unknown and often quite exotic carols included. Perhaps given the number of earlier holiday releases they had previously released, they were obliged to search a bit farther afield (and those would be snow covered fields for the most part) for their newest collection.

A CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL is chock full of delicious holiday surprises, but this earlier recording (officially released in the 1997, but actually recorded in 1981) is equally captivating, even thoughlisteners will know most of its selections by heart, mainly because they have them all IN their hearts. (One notable exception and something of a hint of the "diversity" to come on later releases is the apparent American Indian hymn "'Twas In the Moon of Wintertime." But even in the case of the holiday standards, one has to keep in mind that with choral music, it's all about the arrangements. And is there a better, more original choral arranger on the planet than John Rutter?

It's something of a cliche to say that a new arrangement of a familiar composition causes the listener to her it with "new ears," but I can't help thinking just that when listening to this beautiful record. There's little that's actually flashy about these arrangements: they are quietly inventive and serve to honor the spirit of the original carols rather than "reinvent them."

New ears for Christmas, hmm. Not a bad gift at all."

A Beautiful Christmas classic!

Emily R. White | 01/12/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rutter's settings of traditional Christmas carols give new life to some old favorites. The orchestrations are lovely, and the a capella selections will make you feel like you have the world's best English carolers standing on your doorstep. This CD includes many standard carols, and a few lesser-known ones, like the gorgeous "All My Heart This Night Rejoices," which in my opinion deserves to be revived to familiarity. Also, the Cambridge Singers' performance of "The Christmas Song" is one of my favorite versions of that song...very lush! This CD is always a staple in my music rotation during the holiday season."