CD REVIEW – ANDRÉ RIEU
AND HIS JOHANN STRAUSS ORCHESTRA
Silver Bells
Universal 7444754887822 [CD 61’.56”, DVD 121’]

As is his wont at this time of year, the remarkable André Rieu is back again with his fine band of players and choir on a new studio recording in a selection of Christmastide pieces: popular songs and more serious stuff – naturally all tuneful and some unfamiliar.

The 16 track CD ranges from Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town to It’s the Most Wonderful Time Of The Year. Among those included in between are Jingle Bell Rock, Lulajze Jezuniu, a lovely Polish carol featuring Perlseer Dirndl (a female vocal trio), Tchaikovsky’s Flower Waltz, the Styne/Cahn Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!, Vavilov’s Ave Maria featuring soprano Micaëla Oeste, It’s Beginning To Look Like Christmas, In The Bleak Midwinter, Stephen Foster's Slumber My Darling and the album title tune written by Jay Livingston and Raymond B. Evans. It’s a relief to me that I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus is not included.

For around £12 you not only get this hour-long CD but also a two-hour bonus DVD, Christmas with André: 28 favourite tracks, only half-a-dozen of which are solely connected to Christmas. All come from a joyous concert in Maastricht and include Rieu regulars – Seventy-Six Trombones, Blaze Away, I Will Follow Him, Shostakovich's Second Waltz (the tune that put Maestro Rieu on the map), What a Wonderful World, Strauss and Co. and Can’t Help Falling in Love – that can be enjoyed all year round. Five tracks feature the Golden Voices of Gospel; and Rieu's soloists are Donij van Doorn, Anna Majchzak and Ellie Moran, also The Platin Tenors: Gary Bennett, Béla Mavrak and Serge Bosch.

All Rieu fans, especially those of us who avidly watch his concerts on SkyArts TV each week, will want this release for themselves or to give as a present, and it will likely soar to the summit of the best sellers list.

© Peter Burt 2022