Celtic Woman – “A Christmas Celebration
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Celtic Woman A Christmas Celebration Soundtrack 3.5 out of 5 stars Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson |
I know what you’re thinking. If I hear one more #!!!**&%! Christmas song I’m going to run over my CD player with a reindeer. If you’re ready for something different, something that won’t insult your intelligence, and still manages to capture the spirit of the holidays, tell Santa to slip “A Christmas Celebration” by Celtic Woman into your stocking. Although it occasionally gives off a staid Catholic vibe that will make you feel like you’re sitting in a pew in St. Patrick’s Cathedral for Sunday mass, the blend of classically trained musicians and crystalline voices gives the CD a polished, professional sound. David Downes’ production is rich without being overbearing, leaving the voices of the featured soloists to float along gracefully over the letter-perfect arrangements.
The Players
Celtic Woman is directed by producer/arranger/composer Downes and is comprised of four willowy singers, Lisa Kelly, Chloe Agnew, Orla Fallon and Meav Ni Mhaolchatha, and features the versatile fiddle solos of Maired Nesbitt.
Although they may not be household names in America, the members of Celtic Woman have impressive resumes. David Downes has worked with Clannad, James Galway, Bonnie Tyler, Charlotte Church and young singing sensation Chloe, among others. Lisa Kelly has an extensive background in musical theatre, where she started at age seven, and has played significant roles in many successful productions, including “Chicago,” “Chess,” “Oklahoma” and “Grease.” An international star, Meav Ni Mhaolchatha has performed at the Celtic Festival in Tokyo, the Beo Festival of Irish Music in Dublin, and at Korean World Cup celebrations. Fluent in Gaelic, she has sung with a wide variety of performers, working with Elvis Costello, The Chieftans, and two of Ireland’s most prestigious choirs, Anuna and the National Chamber Choir. Singer and harpist Orla Fallon has toured extensively in Europe and America, performing her own original compositions alongside renditions of traditional Irish melodies. Like her fellow soloists, Fallon has performed with Traditional/New Age legends Clannad. Sixteen year-old Chloe Agnew comes from a rich musical background. Her father David Agnew and mother Adele “Twink” King were both successful performers and Chloe sang on her mother’s T.V. show at the age of six. She recorded her first full-length CD a year later and released her second recording at age fourteen. A former All-Ireland fiddle champion, Mairead Nesbitt began playing at the age of six, combing the contrasting styles of classical music and traditional music. She has worked with a diverse roster of mainstream artists including Van Morrison, Sinead O’Connor, Clannad, Emmylou Harris, Jimmy Webb and Chris De Burgh.
The Songs
The CD opens strongly with “Oh Holy Night,” featuring all five soloists. The voices wrap themselves around David Downes’ properly climatic, lush arrangement, and Nesbitt’s fiddle soars into areas that only dogs can normally hear without being annoying, a feat unto itself.
“Away in the Manger” sung in a lilting voice by Orin Fallon, combines traditional Irish music with a trace of New Age mystique. Des Moore lends a flamenco style guitar solo that stops short of conjuring up Esteban.
Celtic Woman’s version of “White Christmas” is homey, serene, and sedate, performed in the non-confrontational style of the King family. Each singer takes a verse, then the four voices join together like a quiet corporate takeover. The soft arrangement focuses on Downes, who so deftly incorporates the melody for “Over the Rainbow” into the background that you may not even notice.
“Silent Night,” sung in Gaelic by Meav Ni Mhaolchatha has a rougher edge than it was probably intended to convey, but it’s the Irish Film Orchestra’s hushed accompaniment and Mairead Nesbitt’s weepy Toscanini-toned fiddle soloing that make this traditional take so unique.
“Christmas Pipes” is the CD’s standout track, with a multi-layered, rich sound very reminiscent of Clannad. (And why not? You’ll recall that Downes, Fallon and Nesbitt have all worked with the best-selling group.) Combine Nick Baily’s subtle, eddying percussion with an angelic chorus weaving in “Oh Holy Night” and the mythic whisper of John O’Brien on Uilleann pipes, and you’ve got a song you’ll want to listen to over and over again.
Trying to top or even draw even with the popularity of one of the songs that defines the holiday season is usually a no win situation, especially if the song is Nat King Cole’s iconic “White Christmas.” (Even the version voiced by its composer, Mel Torme, pales next to Cole’s). Lisa Kelly occasionally over sings it a bit, (she is after all a stage singer) but her theatrics are counterbalanced by the child-like innocence and sense of wonder she manages to convey throughout her performance.
Christmas comes to Camelot in “Carol of the Belles.” Predominately an instrumental showcase for Mairead Nesbitt’s unique blend of classical and modern soloing, there are plenty of sleigh bells, happy ding-dings and ring-ting-a-lings sung in the background in this spirited, Renaissance period performance.
Harmonizing acapella on “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.,” the ladies bring to mind the wholesome harmonies of the Lemmon Sisters, who were just a smidgen breezier than the jolly, but rigid King Family. The sparse production focuses attention on the singer tight, interwoven vocals and Nesbitt’s sentimental solo.
“Panis Angelicus” voiced by Chloe Agnew, and “Domn Oiche Ud Mbeithil” with Agnew and Meav Ni Mhaolchatha, pay homage to the singer’s Gaelic roots (and justify the CD’s title). Although “Mbeithil” has a melody similar to the theme from “The Godfather,” it also features the talents of harpist Andreja Malir, who has plenty of pluck (sorry). Malir‘s airy accompaniment sets the song’s serene tone, and Nesbitt solos with unadorned beauty and grace.
The full orchestra returns for “O Come All Ye Faithful.” It’s a polite, proper version, so much so, you can picture the singers with their hands crossed perfectly in front of themselves. This is Celtic meets Catholic, complete with peeling bells and a massive choral group. It’s impressive in its scope, and all the musicians, singers and members of the chorus sound attuned to the same Christmas muse.
“The Little Drummer Boy” is an interesting anomaly. There have been a zillion versions of this chestnut, but few as bizarre as this one, which starts of with what sounds like a convention of Druids lost in a fog searching for Stonehenge. So the little drummer boy was a Druid? Who knew? It’s the type of left field performance that might grow on you after a few listens.
There are few performances that are iffy, and most are attempts to take Celtic Woman’s sound outside the Christmas box. “Ding Dong Merrily On High” has the members of the Aontas Choral Ensemble taking a prominent role, but with a full ensemble and the four vocalists occupying the same space the voices do run a bit amuck, sliding up and down the scale like a runaway toboggan. Sometimes too much of a good thing is simply too much.
There’s only one song that’s a complete fiasco. Too bad it’s a “bonus” track and the CDs closing number. “Let it Snow” sticks out like a rotting carrot on a melting snowman. This is Celtic woman meets the Rat Pack, Vegas invades Ireland. The ladies have too much class to pull this off – they’re not Dean Martin’s Goldiggers or The Spice Girls, although the obnoxious horn section tries very hard to make you think they are. And because she has to be part of the finale Nesbitt is thrust into the mix, rendering a hacksaw solo that makes her sound as if she’s Charlie Daniels’ illegitimate colleen. This song has absolutely no place on the CD, let alone in the important final slot.
Despite the mood melting “Let it Snow,” Celtic Woman: A Christmas Celebration is reflective, calming and mellow, the perfect soundtrack for a quiet holiday evening at home sitting around the fire place. So give it a listen, and have yourself a merry little Christmas.
Posted December 21, 2006 Permalink
