Archive for the ‘Christmas’ Category:
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Perhaps the most endearing of all the Charlie Brown specials is “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, the first in a long series of made for t.v. half hour films portraying the famous Peanuts Gang.For almost forty years, watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas” has been an eagerly anticipated event for millions of households. I recall watching it as far back as twenty-two years ago, and have watched it every Christmas since.
“A Charlie Brown Christmas” was made in a time when commercialism was running rampant all over the country. Stores advertising to shoppers what they ought to buy, long before Thanksgiving had come and gone. Unfortunately, we still see this blatant commercialism today, which makes this short film so very poignant and all the more special.
Charlie Brown is assigned to direct the school Christmas pageant, much to his glee; for he feels accepted and worthy. When Lucy tells him to go out and get an alumminum tree, he takes Linus along with him. What Charlie Brown ultimately gets is a small, sickly looking tree, which is rapidly loosing its needles. But, Charlie can see how much the tree “needs him”, somebody; something which he can identity with.
When he returns, he finds the gang dancing to un-Christmas like music, instead of rehearsing their lines. They stop to take a look at the tree he brought, immediately burtsing out in mocking laughter. Apparently Charlie Brown has failed again. In disgust and humiliation he flees, taking the tree with him. And when he comes upon Snoopy’s dog house, all decked out in Christmas lights, not to celebrate the joyous holiday, but to win money in a contest, Charlie Brown has had enough, and almost loses all faith in Christmas.
Linus saves the day, somehow able to bring the tree back to life, and make it look much healthier and stronger. But it is when he explains the meaning of Christmas that the “gang” gets the point of Christmas, and what Charlie Brown was trying to do.
“A Charlie Brown Christmas” ends with newfound meaning for Christmas, hopefully not soon forgotten by either the Peanuts Gang, or, more importantly … us.
The Christmas Collection - Il Divo
Look, I loved Il Divo’s first album. Sounded great… but everything sounded the same.
Well, Houston, they’ve fixed that problem.
The Christmas Collection has gorgeous orchestrations and much better vocal arrangements.
1. “O Holy Night”. Let me just say that I think Josh Groban has the world’s best version of this, but they run a good second.
2. “White Christmas”. When a song is dead, dead, dead, and has no hope of musical resuscitation, you translate it into another language. Not too shabby.
3. “Ave Maria”. I can’t stand this song, but they do a beautiful version. If you like the song in general, you’ll love this.
4. “When a Child is Born”. The best version I’ve heard yet, absolutely SMOKING Charlotte Church and Andrea Bocelli. Has a little improvisational instrumental fling part way in that reminded me of “You Raise Me Up”. Interesting.
5. “Adeste Fidelis”. Awesome a capella first verse (mostly Seb, and nice to hear him not as breathy as usual), another classic and beautifully rendered.
6. “Over the Rainbow”. See #3. –Digression: I understand that this is considered classica Christmas music in the UK, which would make it an obvious choice for “the boys”. But why then would it be released on a CD that is a US-only release? That’s right folks, this wasn’t released in the UK. People on eBay over there are paying $25, $35 for copies imported from the good ol’ USA. End digression—-I’m not listening to it right now, so I don’t remember but I believe this is Seb starting as well. Interesting having the first 2 notes the same instead of the jump, although it’s an easy way of getting it in range.
7. “Panis Angelicus”. Their Latin pronunciation is right-on, this is one of my favorite songs.
8. “Rejoice”. WHOA. This track should be a single. And I sure hope it gets some airtime this year. I’m running out of words like gorgeous, amazing, wonderful, etc, but this song is more than all that. Do yourself a favor and listen to this. David’s part here (Sebastien comes first) is singularly beautiful and just soars. I would say that as a group, this is where they are best. The refrains on this song are breathtaking.
*****I am going to digress here about the tenor voices. Tenors, let’s face it, are a dime a dozen, and it’s hard, often, to keep track of the various colorings of tenor ranges.
Sebastien you can pick out no problem, he has a very fresh, pop-sounding voice. David has the really clear high range –frankly, when I think of a true tenor, his voice comes to mind–, and even though Urs’ range is essentially the same as the other two, he has a more “covered” sound, which ends up giving a slightly operatic, almost “warmer” impression, seeming to move him into a slightly lower register.*****
Yeah, you could call this a secular love song, but “Come and rejoice/what was lost is found” is very nearly a direct quote from the parable of the Prodigal Son. I enjoyed this song more than I can say. Makes your heart sing, and there’s a lack of that kind of music.
9. “Silent Night”. They do a nice version but I’m just afraid that I’ve heard this too many times to enjoy it any more.
10. “The Lord’s Prayer”. Good version, not something you hear too much.
So overall! The standout tracks are #4 and #8.
Recap: the all-the-same problem from Il Divo has been fixed.
Orchestrations: much lighter on the drum lines (thank you!) and more of an old-time, almost Big-Band sound (well, that’s when most of this music was written, let’s face it…).
Vocal arrangements: the last album had too much Carlos (baritone) starting the songs, and this one has just a tad too much Sebastien, but hey, I’m not complaining. You really get to hear each of them shine at what it is they do best.
My sole complaint? This is a really short album! 10 songs? Come on! The average regular CD has 13, and as I remember, Charlotte Church’s Christmas CD had 23.
Ancora, here I come.