|
| Music of Christmas | 
 enlarge | Artists: Percy Faith And His Orchestra, Adolphe Adam, Franz Xaver Gruber, George Frideric Handel, Felix Mendelssohn, Christmas Traditional, John Francis Wade, Richard Storrs Willis
Label: Sony
Category: Music
List Price: $9.98
Buy New: $6.30
You Save: $3.68 (37%)
New (20) Used (10) from $4.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  38 reviews
Sales Rank: 5140
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 38302
UPC: 074643830225
EAN: 0074643830225
ASIN: B0000025SN
Release Date: October 25, 1990
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Tracks:
| • | Joy to the World - Percy Faith, Mason, Lowell | | • | Silent Night - Percy Faith, Gruber, Franz | | • | Deck the Halls With Boughs of Holly - Percy Faith, Traditional | | • | It Came Upon a Midnight Clear - Percy Faith, Sears, Edmund Hamil | | • | Good King Wenceslas - Percy Faith, Neale, John M. | | • | Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Percy Faith, Wesley, Charles | | • | The First Noel - Percy Faith, Sandys, William | | • | Medley: Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming / O Little Town Of Bethlehem - Percy Faith, | | • | O Holy Night - Percy Faith, Adam, Adolphe | | • | Medley: The Holly And The Ivy / Here We Go A-Caroling - Percy Faith, | | • | God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Percy Faith, Traditional | | • | O Come All Ye Faithful - Percy Faith, Oakeley, Frederick |
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 33 more reviews...
 The Pinnacle of Classic Instrumental Christmas Albums! August 18, 2004
17 out of 17 found this review helpful
This is it, folks! If you like an old-fashioned, very Christmasy-sounding album, this is the one to buy.
Tracks from this album were played everywhere when I was a kid: at parties, in stores, in commercials. It was THE sound of Christmas for me, but I had no idea what the album was. When I first heard the song samples on Amazon, I was thrilled. THIS is what I had been looking for all these years and didn't know it! When I listen to this CD I am immediately transported to the Christmases of my childhood (and isn't that often what we're really looking for in older Christmas albums?).
Why only 4 stars for the rating? Sound quality. This CD is rather thin-sounding, trebly, hissy, compressed, and lacking in clarity, presence, and dynamics. Sony/Legacy restored Percy's "Music of Christmas, Volume 2" (which was recorded the same year, 1958) and it sounds wonderful. Just imagine how wonderful this album would be if Sony would spruce up this classic. I have contacted Sony's reissue label, Legacy, several times asking them to remaster this album. Let me encourage everyone reading these reviews to do the same--they need to hear from as many of us as possible: legacyrecordings.com. Click on contact and go from there.
Also highly recommended from this period: Johnny Mathis' "Merry Christmas." Percy Faith did the arrangements on this album also, and it is my favorite vocal Christmas album of all time because it has that late 1950s early 1960s nostalgic, Christmasy sound that you just can't find in later albums.
Joyous memories January 2, 2000
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
My father and I would spend hours and hours, down the basement, in the den, listening to Percy Faith and his orchestra, The "Music of Christmas" album. Every selection is fantastic. The arragements are the best I have ever heard. It was always the first album we would pull out, at Christmas time, and the last album we would put away, after we rang in the new year. As years went by, the rest of my family ventured, one by one, down to the den to see what was keeping my father and I so occupied, at this joyous time of the year. They had the same reaction. They sat and listened as the stings and horns, of this beautiful orchestra, wrapped their hearts in the true feeling of Christmas. I can't listen to that album in the den anymore, but thanks to the miracle of re-production on CD, that wonderful feeling of Christmas is still alive, and this Perch Faith "Music of Christmas" is the first CD I pull out at Christmas time, and the last CD I put away after I ring in the new year.
My First and Favorite Christmas Album December 17, 1999
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
This was the first LP Christmas album I ever had, a present from my sister. I treasured it for many years, even the scratches it accumulated. It was always the first Christmas music I wanted to play every year. As I transitioned to CDs, I grieved for my old Percy Faith album. Last year I learned that I could have it again, on CD! Now I treasure my Percy Faith Christmas music again. To me, this music IS Christmas.
A Well Known Christmas Favorite October 8, 2004
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Percy Faith's MUSIC OF CHRISTMAS contains familiar holiday music in traditional arrangements. Since the recording has been around for many years and has had wide radio play and is sometimes heard in department stores and elevators, people are probably familiar with some of the tracks without even realizing it. There are a few notable arrangements. "The Holy and the Ivy/Wassail Song arrangement uses a less familiar version of "The Holly and the Ivy" and the arrangement of "Deck the Halls" could almost be called "Fantasia of Deck the Halls." Each of the tracks has that certain Percy Faith sound, made famous by his rendition of the theme from "A Summer Place."
This is the perfect instant Christmas spirit recording. Usually I listen to it in early December when things begin to get busy and I need to get in the spirit. These older familiar renditions of the holiday music we all love.
Percy Faith caught the heart of Christmas in this music December 19, 2000
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I first heard Percy Faith, Music of Christmas as a child almost 40 years ago, and I've been listening to it ever since. Growing up at home, Music of Christmas became THE Christmas album. As a young man studying music, a close friend and I sat on the couch (quite closely together) one Christmas season and marvelled at the sensitive musical excellence of these instrumental arrangements. As a father for many years now, my family enjoys these carols and songs every Christmas season. It's the only music we play Christmas morning when we open our gifts--year after year after year. Not just because of its musical excellence, but because these songs really do touch the heart. Percy Faith has captured the whole Christmas experience--social, religious, family--in this music. The only CD that's better than Music of Christmas that we've ever managed to discover is Percy Faith, Music of Christmas Volume Two. Believe me, five stars is far too low a rating.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
