Track Listing

1. In The Praise Of Christmas
2. The Seasons
3. The King
4. Banquet Hall
5. Snow
6. Balulalow
7. Let Us The Infant Greet
8. The Wexford Carol
9. The Stockford Carol
10. Let All That Are To Mirth Inclined

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23392 in Music
• Released on: 2008-11-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

CD Description
TO DRIVE THE COLD WINTER AWAY, one of Loreena McKennitt's first recordings, was originally released in 1987, but this 2004 reissue includes remastered sound, new liner notes, and a DVD featuring videos and a documentary about the artist. Though this is an album of Christmas music, it bears no relation to warm, feel-good holiday offerings by the likes of Bing Crosby or Nat King Cole.
Instead, TO DRIVE THE COLD WINTER AWAY draws on old-world, traditional holiday songs from Scotland, Ireland, and England, and the overall feel of the music is haunting and melancholic. McKennitt accompanies herself on harp on each of these ballads and carols, and her clear, dramatic soprano lilts and floats through the minor-keymelodies. The starkness of the recording, rich in resonanceand ambience, is perfectly suited to the music, a fact highlighted by the reissue's crystalline sound. Though more appropriate for a chilly, wintry, spiritual quest on the Moors than a yuletide family gathering by the fire, McKennitt's project is a striking glimpse into the spirit of Christmas past.

Customer Reviews

soft harp, sweet voice, warm sentiments
Loreena McKennitt, from Stratford, Ontario, Canada, has built an international reputation for her delightful voice and harp accompaniment. While more recent recordings venture farther afield and incorporate influences from India and elsewhere, this album stays mainly grounded in its Celtic roots. McKennitt's clear voice soars over traditional favourites and less-known pieces as well. Especially delightful is her duet with Canadian actor/singer Cedric Smith on The King --- her pure tone contrasts with and still melts into his rougher voice with some marvellous harmonies. Also worth hearing is Snow, McKennitt's own setting of a poem by Archibald Lampman, one of Canada's earliest poets.

A triple threat
A first class writer and interpreter and a beautiful looking woman with long golden hair.Not only that but a woman with brains enough to have complete control over her work.Plus of course her sensational soprano voice
The title song of this collections was first made by another Canadian-Linda Russell.
Anyone who likes Clannad,Enya,Kate St John or Steeleye Span should investigate.
There's always something better than what the media tells you to buy and Loreena McKennit is as good as anybody.
She came out of a decade which has been much derided for its musical content-the 80s but made her own rules.
At a time when the radio and TV played New Wave music and Mad Donna you were unlikely to find her.
Though there were a few singles-one of which The Mummers Dance-scored on the Dance charts-she's really an albums artist and probably not concerned with mundane things like hits-she sells on movie soundtracks which have used her music and she sells to her own audience-which is where you're privileged to be a fan
But I did in the 90s which is about average for those who first heard her music