CD REVIEW
– ALED
JONES & RUSSELL WATSON
Back in
Harmony
BMG 538539282
(48’41)
14 tracks
including, Funiculi,
Funicula; Nella Fantasia;
Shenandoah; Impossible Dream;
Night and Day; Make Me a Channel
of Your Peace; The Loveliest
Night of the Year; and
The Lord Bless You and Keep You.
This is the
follow-up to the couple's first
album, 'In Harmony', which was
last year’s biggest seller
by homegrown artists in the
Classic FM chart. There is no
reason why this should not be
equally successful. Aled believes
that it is even better than the
first!
An especially
interesting track is In
Flanders Field, a vocal
version of Vaughan Williams' Prelude
from the 49th Parallel.
There is an Ave Maria,
this time by Caccini, and The
Lord is My Shepherd is by
Howard Goodall. The concluding
tracks are a 5-minute Christmas
Medley of three carols, and Have
Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
As last year, there are
contributions from supporting
singers recorded in Wilmslow and
London, and the orchestra was
recorded at Orange Studio,
Christchurch, New Zealand. Their
accompaniment to Lucky,
Lucky, Lucky Me is a
particular delight.
Despite what I
wrote in my earlier review (!),
BMG has failed to increase the
length of the album – in
fact, this is shorter by six
minutes – or the print size
of the digipak notes, although
they are definitely easier to
read on a white background.
With the added
value of some nice photographs of
the two singing friends, this
will be a much-appreciated
Christmas gift in a lot of
households.
© Peter
Burt 2019
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