Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Adeste Fideles - London Voices, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Luciano Pavarotti
2. Silent Night - The Bach Choir
3. Ave Maria - Wiener Philharmoniker, Leontyne Price
4. Once in Royal David's City - Robin Barter, David Briggs, Choir of King's College
5. Ding Dong Merrily on High - Choir of King's College
6. Joy to the World - New Philharmonia Orchestra, Dame Joan Sutherland
7. Good King Wenceslas - Stephen Cleobury, , Richard Suart
8. Wiegenlied - New Philharmonia Orchestra, Renata Tebaldi
9. In Dulci Jubilo - Choir of King's College
10. Pastoral, Sinfonia (From Bach's Christmas Oratorio) - Choir of King's College
11. For Unto Us a Child Is Born (From Handel's Messiah) - Chicago Symphony Chorus
12. Ave Maria - Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Utah Symphony Orchestra
13. Shepherds' Farewell
14. Mille Cherubini in Coro - Choir of King's College, Simon Preston
15. See Amid the Winter Snow - Choir of King's College, Simon Preston
16. What Child Is This? - Tom Finucane, Anthony Way
17. First Noel - David Briggs, Choir of King's College
18. O Tannenbaum [O Christmas Tree] - Leontyne Price
19. While Shepherds Watched - Choir of King's College, Simon Preston
20. Away in a Manger - Choir of King's College, Anthony Way
21. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - The Bach Choir, James Blades, David Corkhill, The Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, John Scott

Disc 2:

1. Deck the Halls - The Ambrosian Singers, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Dame Joan Sutherland
2. Holly and the Ivy - Choir of King's College, Simon Haynes, Christopher Hughes, Jonathan Lamb, Roland Robertson
3. Panis Angelicus - National Philharmonic Orchestra, Luciano Pavarotti,
4. In the Bleak Midwinter - Choir of Saint George's Chapel, English Chamber Orchestra, Anthony Way
5. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - The Ambrosian Singers, The New Philharmonic Orchestra, Dame Joan Sutherland
6. Sleigh Ride [from Mozart's German Dance No. 3 K605] - Wiener Mozart Ensemble
7. Twelve Days of Christmas - The Ambrosian Singers, The New Philharmonic Orchestra, Dame Joan Sutherland
8. Shepherds in the Fields Abiding - Choir of King's College
9. Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle - The New Philharmonic Orchestra, Renata Tebaldi
10. I Saw Three Ships - Saint John's College Choir & Cambridge Choir, Mark Tinkler, William Kendall
11. O Holy Night - Leontyne Price
12. O Little Town of Bethlehem - David Briggs, The Choir of Chester Cathedral
13. Gesu Bambino - National Philharmonic Orchestra, Luciano Pavarotti,
14. Rocking [Traditional Czech] - Choir of King's College
15. Virgin Slumber Song - The New Philharmonic Orchestra, Dame Joan Sutherland
16. Child in a Manger - Clare College Choir & Orchestra, Cambridge,
17. Hosanna in Excelsis [Lloyd Webber's Requiem] - Plácido Domingo, English Chamber Orchestra, James Lancelot, Winchester Cathedral Choir
18. Walz of the Snowflakes [Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker] - National Philharmonic Orchestra
19. White Christmas - London Voices, Philharmonic Orchestra, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
20. Skater's Waltz - National Philharmonic Orchestra
21. Mary's Boy Child - London Voices, Philharmonic Orchestra, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #123813 in Music
• Released on: 2001-10-09
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Live

Customer Reviews

Touch of angle, touch of heart
If you enjoy opera or choir, this is a must collection. The Choir of King's College probably knows the secret how to make the listener flying among thousands of Christmas candles. Pavarotti's opening is so mighty that remind people, this year, to be courageous and to believe (not limited from religious sense but the humanity perspective.) And his Mill Cherubini and Panis Angelicus can vibrate one's tear from the heart, reflecting to the tragedy and the war in 2001. As for the sopranos, this collection is a Jewel. Joan Sutherland's Deck The Hall and The Twelve Days of Christmas bring out the merry atmosphere of the season and cheer one's mood to celebrate. Also her Virgin's Slumber Song has so much beauty and grace . Kanawa's Ave Maria is so dramatic performed that perfectly drawn out the human's longing for love and protection. All the orchestra also have done a splendid job. The arrangement is perfect there is no dull moment from the beginning to the end.

A Christmas celebration for Classical Music Lovers only
The cover of this 2 disc set features half a dozen of the great voices of our time: Pavarotti, Domingo, Joan Sutherland, Renata Tebaldi, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Leontyne Price. However, selections by these soloists comprise only 2/5 of the set, the rest being choral and orchestral works.

Nor are these fabulous voices given equal representation. Pavarotti and my personal favorite, Joan Sutherland, have four songs apiece; Price and Kanawa have three apiece; Renata Tebaldi two and only one for Placido Domingo.

However, this is basically a very good collection. The first disc is a bit on the solemn side, while the second is brighter. Pavarotti leads off the entire collection with "Adeste Fideles" and returns later on the first disc with "Mille Cherubini in Coro". His renditions of "Panis Angelicus" and "Gesu Bambino" help grace the second CD.

Joan Sutherland brightens the first disc with her "Joy To The World" and then sets the lighter mood of the second disc with "Deck The Halls" and later returns with a sprightly "Twelve Days of Christmas". She also gives us the beautiful and tender "Virgin Slumber Song". Leontyne Price gives us Schubert's "Ave Maria", "O Tannenbaum" and "O Holy Night". Kiri Te Kanawa gives us Bach/Gounod's "Ave Maria", surprises us with "White Christmas" (a very beautiful & unique interpretation), and winds up the entire set with "Mary's Boy Child". Renata Tebaldi's contributions are Brahms' "Lullaby" and "Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle". Placido Domingo's sole appearance is with the dynamic "Hosanna in Excelsis" from Lloyd Weber's Requiem.

It is a splendid feast of vocal performances. However, the choral and orchestral selections have weak spots. I was especially disappointed in the Chicago Symphony & Chorus rendition of "For Unto Us a Child Is Born", and also thought that a good rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus would've worked better. The orchestral selections did have bright spots such as "Sleigh Ride" (Mozart's, not Leroy Anderson's), Tchaikovsky's "Waltz of the Snowflakes" from the Nutcracker, and the "Skater's Waltz".

All in all, this is a collection which belongs in your Christmas Classical collection, but can't be considered an absolute essential.

This may be a good album; the marketing ploy is shameless
I have not listened specifically to this edition, but I can tell you with near absolute certainty that this is a classic example of marketing at its most shameless. This is nothing more than a reissue of "The Greatest Christmas Show on Earth", but with a different title! (Something similar was done back in 1963, when the Harry Simeone Chorale's ever-popular 1958 LP, "Sing We Now of Christmas", was retitled and re-released as "The Little Drummer Boy"--its current CD title--, but at least the advertising there seemed slightly more honest.)

Everything on "The #1 Christmas Album" is exactly the same as on "The Greatest Christmas Show on Earth", right down to the order of the musical selections on the album. Only the cover design is different. Decca/London apparently believes that it can fool its customers into thinking that they are buying another album if they simply change the title. Of course, the album itself is reasonably good, though not on the level of most of my favorite Christmas albums, not even the now-deleted RCA Victor "Christmas Treasures", a collection culled from RCA Victor's Living Stereo series. The offense lies in the marketing gimmick,something I have never seen in all my years of avid CD buying. This is worse than all those "collections" which just rehash old material--at least each collection is a newly organized album.