Concerto di Natale Christmas Concert with Jose Carreras
Taped in 1998 at the Basilica di S. Ambrogio in Milan, this Christmas  concert starring José Carreras with David Gimenez conducting the Arturo  Toscanini Orchestra includes a few sentimental religious favorites, notably  César Franck's "Panis Angelicus," Schubert's "Ave Maria" (in which he  gets the words mixed up), the anonymous "Adeste Fideles," "Silent Night" sung in  Italian, and "The Lord's Prayer," sung (in English) as an encore and, for some  viewers, probably worth the price of the disc. There are baroque orchestral  selections (a Bach overture, the "Arrival of the Queen of Sheba" from Handel'sSolomon), and some pop favorites: "The Little Drummer Boy," sung in both  English and Italian, and "White Christmas," sung as an encore in English.Among the more exotic items are an Italian adaptation of a Schubert lullaby  titled "Mille cherubini in coro" ("A thousand Cherubim in chorus") and a setting  of "Panis Angelicus" attributed to J.S. Bach, who would have had serious  theological problems with the text. Most of the time, the performance is  essentially operatic, with lush orchestration and lots of vocal vibrato, whether  the music happens to be folk, pop, or liturgical. Carreras's fans will be  satisfied, as his voice is in good condition and he sounds generally comfortable  with the material, particularly in the Spanish and Catalan numbers.--Joe  McLellan