thu 07/11/2024

CD: Katherine Jenkins - This Is Christmas | reviews, news & interviews

CD: Katherine Jenkins - This Is Christmas

CD: Katherine Jenkins - This Is Christmas

Welsh crossover diva's seasonal offering

She may sing schmaltz, but Jenkins hits the commercial sweet spot

Does this disc succeed in doing what it sets out to do? Yes, it does, which makes my minor carpings irrelevant. It’s already selling in industrial quantities.

But, to quote a review of another Christmas album on this site, “an album full of tunes you’ve been hearing all your life needs to be adept at reinvention”, and too many of the traditional numbers featured here follow the same template – gloopy, synthetic sounding production values and glacial tempi. Experience has convinced me that carols can be most emotionally potent when they’re sung by untrained, youthful voices. We’ve all welled up watching school nativity plays.

Jenkins’s light mezzo voice never sounds forced, and you wonder how she’d cut it in opera. But she rarely sounds fully engaged. Understandable, given that these tracks were probably recorded on a hot summer’s day. O Come O Come Emmanuel and Away in a Manger exemplify the album’s shortcomings. Both are slow and resolutely earthbound, despite Sally Herbert’s classy backing orchestra, full of A-list orchestral players. But turn to the lighter fare and the mood abruptly lifts. Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire is undeniably sweet, and Jenkins even manages to make Santa Baby her own, without eclipsing Eartha Kitt’s original.

John Rutter’s I Wish You Christmas’s schmaltzy harmonies confirm its place as a modern classic, and Sally Herbert’s arrangement of the Wexford Carol will induce a few tingles. The sensitive may wish to avoid the CD's two closing numbers. Come What May has been hyped as a duet with Placido Domingo, though it’s clear that his heavily-accented, vibrato-laden contribution was added afterwards. In a different country, presumably. O Holy Night, pairing Jenkins with Nathan Pacheco, is yet more saccharine. This is not a classical CD, though it's riding high in the classical charts. Jenkins herself would be the last to claim that she's a serious classical artist. And as such, it's fine.

Carols can be most potent when they’re sung by untrained, youthful voices. We’ve all welled up watching school nativity plays

rating

Editor Rating: 
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)

Share this article

Comments

We bought Katherine's 'This Is Christmas' & 'My Christmas' at the same time. Her voice is lovely and imparts the Christmas spirit. Would have loved a soaring rendition of 'Angels From The Realms Of Glory'; but, maybe next year.

Add comment

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters