Silent Night: A Christmas in Rome
Paddy Maloney has spent three decades arranging music for one of the world's great instrumental groups, the Chieftains, which must have given him a hunger to write for the human voice.A Christmas in Romefeatures either choirs or solo singers on nearly every track. To sing his arrangements of Christmas music, Maloney has assembled an eclectic collection of musicians from around the world, including theHarlem Gospel Choir, the Bulgarian Voices Angelite, the Glenstall Abbey Monks,Maire Brennanfrom Ireland,Sissel Kyrkjebofrom Norway, and Pietro Ballo from Italy. The instrumentation tends toward the orchestral and the vocals toward the ethereal. The Chieftains appear on a few tracks and Maloney plays tin whistle and uilleann pipes on a number of the arrangements.--Michael Simmons