Crystalline Christmas Reviews

The new age piano man does it again in "Crystalline Christmas"! I thought I liked Richard Carr's first holiday album quite a bit ("Christmas Fireside" is also reviewed on this site), but I actually prefer this one. Both albums present soothing, but scintillating, new age music appropriately structured to make the holidays sparkle. There is something about "Crystalline Christmas", however, that is just more crystalline, for lack of a better word. The piano playing seems crisper, and the improvisational moments are more brightly etched. Carr's piano playing makes magic; he also uses a keyboard for synthesized sounds on three tracks.

This album has 12 numbers, including two Carr originals: "Crystalline Christmas", which brings to mind melting icicles and frosty windowpanes; and "The Gift", a delicate and joyous homage to God's greatest gift, performed with an almost childlike sense of wonder. The 10 traditional tracks date from the 15th to the 19th centuries, and they reveal a very strong musical selection, including some relatively unusual--and unusually lovely--carols such as "Gaudete!", "Noel Nouvelet", and "Lulajze Jezuniu" (a traditional Polish carol featuring keyboard-generated flutes and strings).

For those who enjoy the new age moods created by pianists David Lanz and George Winston, the improvisational work of Richard Carr will be a natural match. - Carol Swanson