Roberto Alagna said that when faced with the choice of doing a “classical” Christmas album or a popular one, he preferred a mixture. So, we get carols in both traditional orchestral (with chorus) and contemporary pop arrangements (all of the above by Robin Smith, who conducts the program). Also included are some evergreen Christmas tunes as well as a couple of brand new compositions. One new song, Gentil Pere Noel–a kind of take-off on Joy to the World–is by Alagna himself. This album, which seems aimed at listeners on both sides of the Atlantic, alternates between French and English selections, with Silent Night sung in both of those languages as well as the original German. The most interesting thing about this collection is how Alagna successfully varies his vocal technique from straight operatic to pure pop crooning, making some surprising choices in the process. O Holy Night is done in the best traditional manner, while Schubert’s Ave Maria gets the Elvis Presley treatment. Alagna does a star turn in Russ Ballard and Chris Winter’s The Love of a Child, a song that easily could find a place on any contemporary Christmas top 40 list. However, his rendition of White Christmas wins the Kitschy Holiday Tune award for its Disney-style arrangement (Hawaiian guitars, cowboy whistling) and Alagna’s droll, Crosby-ish delivery (with his French accent really standing out like a sore thumb). But this comes last on the disc, so it’s easily avoided. The sound, with close miking of the singer and artificial balances for the orchestra and instrumentalists, is typical of a pop album.
