Despite the description, this is not an album of Gigli singing Christmas songs. There is only one track sung by him, 'Mille cherubini in coro'. This was not however a disappointment as I found it a very interesting and varied collection of recordings which I mostly had not come across before and was very glad to have. The sound quality is variable; the earliest recording, Emmy Destinn singing Hummel's Halleluja, dates from 1906. And not all of the tracks are music. There is Charles Laughton reciting 'The oldest Christmas Story' and Basil Rathbone reciting 'The night before Christmas'. The only thing really annoying about this album is the lack of information. For example, I had to do a search on line to find out who the baritone singing with John McCormack on 'Adeste Fideles' was and recording dates are only given as the year and in some cases even that is approximate. There is a booklet of notes (in English, German and French), but it has very little information about the actual recordings. The notes are written in a very self-indulgent way that I found monumentally annoying and patronising, apparently by Nigel Douglas (I assume the tenor and not the director). The booklet wouldn't get one star from me, but I really enjoyed the recordings.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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