Celtic Christmas IV
With contributions from Uillean piper Liam O'Flynn, Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler, former Skara Brea singer Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill, harpist Patrick Cassidy, and country singer Ricky Skaggs, the fourth in Windham Hill's Celtic Christmas sampler series is a varied and somewhat austere collection of winter ballads and yuletide airs. Guitarist William Coulter turns in a lovely arrangement of J. Scott Skinner's "Cradle Song," while harp and mandolin player Lisa Lynne, backed with bouzouki and double-bass, performs the two-beat "Morning Star." W.G. Snuffy Walden's lyrical "St. Stephen's Green," with added guitar by Dean Parks, sums up the album's moody yuletide sentiment. A Christmas to reflect and relax.--James Rotondi