Sting is a bit of a curious fish. Part spiky haired pseudo punk, jazz idealist, tantric sex master, rainforest savior, dodgy film star and now classical musician, his credibility has often veered between naff and intoxicating. His recent musical leanings however have seen him take in an album of 18th century lute music, which was actually rather beautiful, and now this, his ode to the Christmas season. I'm always concerned about "Christmas" themed albums, invariably crap, I'm not a big fan of sonic powered "White Christmas" duets by rap superstars. However, on the back of his "Songs From The Labyrinth" which although pretenciously titled, was an exercise in 300 year old English folk, and as I said, rather good. Winter, rather than Christmas however is the theme on offer, and it is also, it transpires, the good Sting's favorite time of year. Hence, rather than "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" we get a selection of seasonal songs, mostly dark in texture and hue as he summons up the ghost of Christmas in mildly scary, depressing form than any celebratory exercise. Pushkin would have approved. Songs invoking imagery such as "freezing", "bleak", "ice", "haunting" and "darkness" dominate here, in fields of snow far away from Roxanne's red light lost angst. Accompanied by classical guitar, mandolin, harp, tuba, harmonium and the tablas of India, Sting has indeed pulled off again, somethig remarkable yet undoubtedly Sting-like. For a chameleon of rock, Sting in his middle age is still capable of producing the goods for a more selective, mature audience.
A silly but entertaining yarn set on Christmas Eve, The widow Solokha agrees to help the Devil steal the moon. The Devil is annoyed with Solokha's son Vakula who painted an icon mocking him, and decides to create a snowstorm to prevent Vakula from seeing his beloved Oxana. Vakula enters and watches her admiring herself. She teases him, and he says he loves her. Chub comes back out of the storm, and Vakula, not recognizing him, chases him out by striking him. Seeing what he has done, Oxana sends Vakula away in a miserable state. Young people from the village come around singing Ukrainian Christmas carols. Oxana realizes she still loves Vakula. Three men and the Devil wind up in three sacks at Solokha's hut after successively trying to seduce her, and Vakula winds up hauling the heavy sacks away. Outside three groups of carollers contend. Oxana shames Vakula into getting her the Tsaritsa's boots or else she won't marry him. The Devil takes Vakula away as Russian and Cossack dances commence. The next scene takes place at the town square on a bright Christmas morning. Solokha and Oxana think Vakula has drowned himself and mourn for him. Oxana runs off weeping when villagers invite her to the Christmas feast. Vakula returns with the boots, asks Chub to forgive him for the beating and asks for Oxana's hand in marriage. She enters, tells Vakula that she wants him, not the silly boots. Chub calls for the kobzari (the lutenists), and everyone celebrates. The opera premiered at the Mariinsky in 1876, however Tchaikovsky revised it in 1885 as 
The Wintereisse are probably the most well known of any collection of songs about winter. Written by the German poet Wilhelm Muller, they are a 26 song cycle, most famously set for male voice and piano by Franz Schubert in 1827. They are no party; the songs deal with the loneliness of solitiude, the bleakness and cold of the season, rejected love, and the contemplation of death, something that should appeal to Morrissey fans. Over the course of the cycle the poet, whose beloved now fancies someone else, leaves his beloved's house secretly at night, quits the town and follows the river and the steep ways to a village. Having longed for death, he is at last reconciled to his loneliness. The cold, darkness, and barren winter landscape mirror the feelings in his heart, and he encounters various people and things along the way which form the subject of the successive songs during his lonely journey. It is in fact an allegorical journey of the heart. In doing so, Muller also captures the melancholy feel of winter, while Scubert's sparse piano work demonstrate the icy touch of frigid despair. 
Bobby McFerrin is a classically trained, experimental jazz singer with an incredible vocal range. Employing drumming by using his own body, and regarding his voice as an instrument, he is best known for the mid-1980's hit single "Don't Worry, Be Happy". Since then, he has consistently fused his eclectic style of jazz and scat singing with classical music, as first seen on his collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma, on the recording "Hush". Here, McFerrin combines forces with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, fulfilling the roles both of conductor and vocalist. Featuring compositions by Mozart, Faure, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Bach and Mendelssohn this could have turned into an almighty dogs dinner. However it is much to McFerrin's credit that it does not, and instead he has created a marvellous record of style, homage, wit and beauty. If melody, the classics, and jazz are your thing, then this CD will both surprise and delight.
Gordon Chin is a Taiwanese composer, with several orchestral, choral and chamber works to his credit. Formosa Seasons is dedicated to the Taiwanese violinist Cho-Liang Lin, and is based on a set of poems the composer wrote with the same title. Depicting the “sound of wind, the smell of trees, the beauty of twilight and the laughter of children” throughout the Chinese seasons of the year. It’s a great and interesting piece encompassing both Western classical music structures with Chinese melodies.
The Grateful Dead are one of rocks seminal acts, but curiously better known for their long, mazy and intricate live performances than any work they did in the studio. Perhaps the definitive American band, their heyday was in the 1970’s when they performed some of the most intellectually challenging, yet melodic and even funky music thus recorded in the genre. They were at their very best during this concert, which has been cleaned up and released for the first time. The band never objected to their live performances being bootlegged, and many of them exist, but to have this, remastered and repackaged by a major studio just shows them at their most creative. My personal highlight: the 17 minute jam that is “Sugaree”, with Jerry Garcia’s excellent guitar playing prominent throughout.
This new set by the Grande Dame of Cuban music – she’s now 79 – is a thank you (hence the title) to her friends all during her 60 year old recording career. A member of the legendary Buena Vista Social Club, this CD encompasses Cuban dance and love songs from the 1930’s and 1940’s, when Sinatra and Hemingway used to booze, brawl and love at Havana’s famed nightspots. It’s an eclectic collection of Cuban music at it’s very best, and one cannot help but be charmed by the gravitas and stately romance her aged voice brings to the songs.
I love Spanish Guitar, and most people I know do too! So when in a seductive mood, it’s good to have a handy disc or two. This compilation of various Spanish classical pieces from composers such as Albeniz, Tarrega, Ruiz-Pipo and so on is performed throughout by the virtuoso Narciso Yepes, and is a fine introduction to a style of guitar introduced to Spain by the Moors, and perfected by the Spanish romantics themselves. A sheer delight.
Dmitri Hvorotovsky is a leading Russian bass-baritone, and an international opera star. Preferring Russian Opera over it’s more popular Italian counterpart as I do, this collection brings the best of both worlds: his rendering of some of Russian operas “greatest hits” and a sprinkling of Italian pieces. Verdi, Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini are all represented here, as are operatic works from his countrymen Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Rachmaninoff. If you like your Opera grand, varied and a little more deep in tone - Dmitri Hvorotovsky is the man for you.