Winter Solstice on Ice
We've come to depend on Windham Hill's annual Winter Solstice collections as a relief from the glut of traditional Christmas tunes, but this double CD,Winter Solstice on Ice, slips. The soundtrack to an A&E; ice skating special, the first disc follows the Winter Solstice formula, mixing original tunes inspired by the season and inventive covers of traditional Christmas fare. Brian Keane starts it off with an imagistic number called "Magic Forest," featuring the Angels of Venice,Samite, and others. The L.A. Guitar Quartet provides a novel, minimalist dissertation on "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," and Janis Ian surprises with an intimate, guitar and synth-string reading of "We Three Kings." But the second disc starts with over-the-hill R&B; crooners likeJeffrey Osborne,Roberta Flack, andPeabo Bryson, then shifts into a sampler of Windham Hill artists. It has little to do with the Winter Solstice theme, even if they are among the best songs on the disc.--John Diliberto