Track Listing

1. Gabriel's Message
2. Soul Cake
3. There Is No Rose Of Such Virtue
4. The Snow It Melts The Soonest
5. Christmas At Sea
6. Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming
7. Cold Song
8. The Burning Babe
9. Now Winter Comes Slowly
10. The Hounds Of Winter
11. Balulalow
12. Cherry Tree Carol
13. Lullaby For An Anxious Child
14. Hurdy Gurdy Man
15. You Only Cross My Mind In Winter

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29 in Music
• Released on: 2009-11-02
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Special Edition
• Dimensions: .14 pounds
• Running time: 50 minutes

CD Description
If On A Winter's Night presents an arc of songs that conjure the season of spirits, the eerie silences of the snow; days of solitude and reflection for some, a time of re-birth and celebration for many. With traditional music of the British Isles as their starting point, Sting and his guest musicians draw the listener in through a collection of songs, carols, and lullabies spanning the centuries--such as "The Snow It Melts the Soonest" (a traditional Newcastle ballad), "Soul Cake" (a traditional English begging song which has its roots in Halloween/All Souls Day), Gabriel's Message (a 14th century carol), as well as two of Sting's own compositions: "Lullaby for an Anxious Child" and "The Hounds of Winter". Also featured on the album is "Hurdy Gurdy Man", a musical reworking and English translation (by Sting) of "Der Leiermann" from Schubert's classic winter song-cycle Winterreise.

Customer Reviews

A strange, beguiling and rewarding collection...
The first thing I will say is that this is the first Sting album I have ever brought (or owned, copied, let in the house...). So I don't come to it with any baggage of claiming to be a fan. I think some previous reviews here suffer from assuming that this is a straight pop album. Its not. The Deutche Gramophon label should be your guide.

I was intrigued enough to buy it as an intrest in folk and classical music puts this right up my street. I have also had a strong intrest in winter / Christmas too. By which I don't mean Wizzard / Slade. Anyway.

There is much to intrigue here. At 50 minutes running time, the album covers a lot of ground, and repeat listens will reveal lots of subtle parts you may miss first time round. There is old English folk songs, poems sung and set to music. Sting covers five centuries of music, but blends it all together beautifully. If you want a winter album to soundtrack the party season, forget it. If you don't want to try something new, learn about something outside the usual pop/rock mainstream, or widen your horizons, move on. But if you do appreciate musicians playing really well as individuals and together, an education and entertainment, this is for you. If you want something to soundtrack dark nights and reflection on the passing year as you sit by the fire with your favorite tipple as the lights flicker across the walls, take a chance and invest in this. I suspect as winter rolls around year on year, this will make repeat appearences on the stereo. It certainly has me researching further some of the origianal inspirations for the tracks. Which is what great music should do. Lead you on to even more...It's not an easy listen at times. Not all the tracks have a hummable melody or toe-tapping rhythm. Most are slow and take time to unfurl. You will need to pay attention, but its a grower. Its rewarding. Good things come to those who wait.

Thoughtful and beautifully judged winter album...
Weaving through all the songs on Sting's latest album "If On A Winter's Night..." are the themes of winter, ghosts and spirits, religion and the pull of home back to loved and missed ones. The musicians and singers complement the songs impeccably - the Northumbrian pipes of Kathryn Tickell are so evocative of the the northeast and are an instant reminder to older fans of his classic 1991 album "The Soul Cages", an album that drew heavily on his roots. Stand out tracks include "Christmas At Sea", a poem written by Robert Louis Stevenson that is combined with the Gaelic song "Thograinn Thograinn" and provides one of the most evocative songs that Sting has recorded. "Soul Cake" is a very catchy song that is guaranteed to etch its way into your subconscious after the first listen and is the most immediate track on the album; "The Snow It Melts The Soonest" is a hauntingly beautiful Northumbrian track; "The Burning Babe" contrasts a macabre tale with a jolly tune to great effect, and Sting combines his own lyrics to a piece of Bach on the melancholic "You Only Cross My Mind In Winter". Taken with traditional Christmas songs such as "Gabriel's Message" and the "Cherry Tree Carol", some reworkings of older songs such as "The Hounds of Winter" and "Lullaby To An Anxious Child", and more obscure pieces from centuries past such as "Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming" and "Now Winter Comes Slowly" means that Sting delivers a thoughtful and beautifully judged seasonally themed album without once having to mention reindeer, snowmen or Santa Claus.

Sting in these tales
I don't know about you but, for me, one of the problems with a lot of music these days is the obsession with churning out more or less the same album time after time after time. For a vast majority of acts today, you know exactly what their next album will sound like. In the good old days, by contrast, one of the great joys of following a particular band or singer was not knowing exactly what they would come up with next. Sometimes it would work - sometimes it wouldn't. But it would always be enthralling to watch their 'journey'.

So I'm delighted that Sting has come from left-field again with "If On A Winter's Night...". Even better than that, he's produced what is (to my ears) a convincing, successful album of folky, wintertide tales and tunes that work extremely well as a collective, yet also furnish him with enough latitude to experiment with different vocal styles, introduce unfamiliar melodies (as on this version of the seasonal 'standard' "Gabriel's Message") and interweave a range of musical approaches (as on the excellent, jazz-tinged "The Burning Babe"). Sting's always been a master of musical fusion and this album is no different. And as a Warlock/Schubert fan, I'm delighted to see examples of their work slotting neatly into this superbly reflective, understated, bitter-sweet collection.

Stand-outs for me include "The Hurdy-Gurdy Man", "Soul Cake", "The Hounds of Winter" and "The Snow It Melts The Soonest". But the truth is that Sting puts his indelible stamp on all the songs.

So what next, Sting? Wait - don't tell me! Surprise me. Again!