CCMusic.com

Christmas is celebrated in many places throughout the world. Though the customs and traditions may differ, heart-warming tunes and songs can be heard everywhere. Now Howard Arman, the new artistic director of the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks since 2016, invites you to join him on an international Christmas journey in song with Christmas Surprises. This CD presents Christmas songs from all over the world in new arrangements that Arman himself has specially prepared for his Chorus and the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, beginning with Franz Gruber's Silent Night and continuing via the South American Adorar al niño and the Swedish Jul, Jul, strålande Jul to Giacomo Puccini's familiar lullaby Sogno d'Or. Framing the songs are two original pieces by the American composer Leroy Anderson. The CD opens with A Christmas Festival, his medley of favourite tunes which, in an unforgettable Hollywood sound, hints at and anticipates several of the carols to follow. With Anderson's Sleigh Ride the CD ends with a spin through a romantic winter landscape against a famous sonic backdrop of sleighbells. Nor could the CD possibly manage without White Christmas, the quintessential American Christmas song, sung here by the stellar American baritone Thomas Hampson!