A beautiful cover

Celtic Christmas II; various Windham Hill artists

I purchased this Celtic Christmas CD first. I liked the picture on the front. Throughout my CD purchasing career, I have bought five or six CD’s on the merits of the excellent photo on the front of the CD jacket. Three of those times I regretted the transaction immediately, but, surprisingly, the other two or three brought tremendous musical satisfaction.

As on the previously mentioned Celtic CD, the lineup on Celtic Christmas II only includes one true and recognizable Christmas song: The Wexford Carol. The tune is rendered here by James Galway with a harpist as his accompanist.

Anymore, I can weary of the same old Christmas music. “How sad,” some might say. Yes, I concur. I don’t tire of the message, though. The news of the birth and arrival of the Savior of the world brings nothing if not joy every time I hear of it. But the music, even in all of the different arrangements, has begun to sound bland. So, no wonder, then, that I seem to have subconsciously gone in search for music that I could label as “Christmas” and enjoy as my own without the danger of another artist stampeding into the recording studio to proclaim, “Well, maybe. But I think it should sound like this.” Let’s face it. How many different recordings do any of us have of “Silent Night”? No one can truly claim that any one version is better than the others.

“You snob!” some might say. Yes, I concur. It boils down, as it does so frequently, to the subjectivity of music. Your criteria for excellence in music differs from mine. In the immortal words of C. Montgomery Burns from the Simpsons, “I’m no art critic, but I know what I hate. And I don’t hate this.” The Lord in his infinite wisdom left it for each of us to decide for ourselves what we choose to like and dislike. For if we were all forced to like the same things for the same reasons, would we really and truly like them?

But, what do I know about the subject? I picked up this CD because I liked the picture on the front. “How shallow!” some might say. Yes, I concur.

Credits: To Sir James Galway, for matching a warm and characteristically Irish outlook on life with a passion for musical excellence. Thank you for “Annie’s Song”.