Perhaps it’s once in a lifetime an artist has a voice that could bring generations together. Charlotte Church stunned the world with her two classical albums, Voice Of An Angel and Charlotte Church. She’s become a phenomenon at the tender age of fourteen. What’s next? A Christmas album, of course.
Dream A Dream is by far the best Christmas album this season. With nineteen mostly traditional songs, there has never been a better deal for the dollar. From “Dream A Dream”, the opening duet with fellow child prodigy Billy Gilman, you can tell you are in for one heck of a sleigh ride.
“The Little Drummer Boy” is enough to make me weep. That voice just engulfs you. “Winter Wonderland” gets a traditional orchestration, but her voice soars above it like a cloud full of winter snow. And while we are mentioning orchestration, I have to say that conductor Sian Edwards and the London Symphony Orchestra are magnificent. It’s worth buying the album for them. Mel Thorme’s “The Christmas Song” gets a makeover, taken to a level even Mel couldn’t imagine.
I could go on and on about Charlotte and her mastery of songs we all know by heart, except of course some of those tough words in “Joy To The World” and “Ave Maria”. I will only finish by saying that this is a must for the holidays. Dream A Dream will still be here next season and so on. It’s the album we will tell our children’s children about.
+ charlie craine
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