Christmas With the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
TheMormon Tabernacle Choirhas made more than 20 seasonal recordings since  its first one (for broadcast to U.S. servicemen in Europe and the  Pacific on Christmas Day, 1945), but none finer than this one, led by  the group's newly appointed music director, Craig Jessop. Featuring  lush arrangements by Mack Wilberg and Barlow Bradford, it emphasizes  the gentler, more rapturous moods of the holiday, especially in such  beautiful settings as Wilberg's of "Whence Is That Goodly Fragrance?"  and "How Far Is It to Bethlehem?" and Bradford's fantasy on "What Child  Is This?" Balancing these are several selections in which the choir's  blazing, full-voiced splendor shines forth, including Wilberg's festive arrangements of  "Joy to the World" and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," as well as Bradford's colorful take on "Pat-a-pan." The choir's singing is magnificent. Listen to the way the men lead off "The First Noel" and to how the full chorus builds the piece to a gorgeous climax, or to the virtuosic job the singers do in the "Carol of the Bells" (with its echoes of Rachmaninoff'sThe Bells). Impressively backed by the Orchestra at Temple Square, this is a disc to treasure, and a tribute to the admirable work being done in Salt Lake City by maestro Jessop--who now seems poised to inherit the mantle ofRobert Shaw. It couldn't happen to a  nicer guy or a worthier musician.--Ted Libbey