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List Price: $16.98 | | Label: EMI Classics
Salesrank: 2367
Released: October 25, 1990 |
| Our Price: $9.33 |
| Used Price: $4.95 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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A Christmas Celebration: Kathleen Battle Track Listing:
1. O Come All Ye Faithful
2. O Holy Night
3. Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabelle (Un Flambeau, Jeannette, Isabelle)
4. Fum, Fum, Fum!
5. Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming (Es Ist Ein' Ros' Entsprungen)
6. Ave Maria - Barbara Allen, , Kathleen Battle
7. Gesü Bambino
8. Three English Carols Medley: I Saw Three Ships/The First ...
9. Away in the Manger
10. Silent Night
11. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
12. Marië Weingenlied (Mary's Cradle Song)
13. Zither Carol
14. I Wonder as I Wander
15. Mary Had a Baby
16. Rise Up, Shepherd
17. What Child Is This?
18. Ave Maria
19. Finale and Reprise: Veni, Veni, Emmanuel/It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
A Christmas Celebration: Kathleen Battle Reviews:
Best Cheristmas Album Ever! 
2009-12-15 - I bought this CD a couple of years after it came out, and have listened to it at every Christmas since. Kathleen Battle may have been temperamental and hard to work with, but at the time of this recording, she had the voice of an angel.
This CD features an eclectic mix of the warhorses of the Christmas carol repertoire, spirituals and some familiar carols and folk-type songs in their original language. All the songs fit Battle's soprano voice, as all are "classical", with no "pop" songs included. there is a familiarity to some of the songs whose arrangements are the same as some from Pavarotti's Xmas album.
Several people have remarked on their favorites from the album, such as both Ave Marias. I love her angelic voice on Maria's Wegenlied and Gesu Bambino. I think my favorite is Silent Night. I am not overly fond of that carol, but in the recording they have Kathleen doing harmony with herself as she takes the line higher than the actual melody. the effect is very moving. I can only describe it as sounding the way one imagine if an angel were singing Baby Jesus to sleep. Simply lovely. The orchestral arrangements are beautiful throughout, and the Boys Choir of Harlem and New York choral Artists provide fine choral support.
If you love beautiful operatic soprano singing and Christmas, this album is a must-have. Everyone for whom I have played this CD has rushed out and bought it, so it would make a great gift as well.
Christmas in August
2009-08-29 - I love Christmas songs. I play them all year round, especially those sung by Kathleen Battle. She has the purest, angelic voice I have ever heard. It is a gift from Heaven. Credit must also be given to the superior choral and orchestral support provided by the New York Choral Artists, the renowned Harlem Boys Choir and the Orchestra of St. Luke's, conducted by the distinguished American conductor Leonard Slatkin. If I am allowed to keep only one Christmas album, this is the one.
Christmas music
2009-01-14 - The best collection of traditional Christmas music we now have. Ms. Battle's voice is simply beautiful.
don't believe I've ever heard anything lovelier
2008-12-27 - I had not heard this album until this year (2008) when my local NPR station played about half of it at one go while I was driving down the highway. Like all the previous reviewers (but one), I think it's absolutely lovely. My only complaint was that my eyes kept tearing up while I needed to see the road. I simply can't imagine a more beautiful voice, or more beautiful delivery of these songs. (A little later I heard the great Jessye Norman singing some of the same material, and my feeling was that her versions are very impressive to the ears -- but Kathleen's strike right to the heart.)
All that glitters... 
2008-10-18 - Sometimes lovely but marred by an overall sense of caution. Kathleen Battle, who sang with such warmth on "Pleasures of Their Company"(her "Ave Maria" on that recording is miraculous)reins her voice in on every song. Incredibly, she shies away from the vowel 'e', turning Maria into Mariah. As pretty and brittle as a glass ball.
