Culled from Windham Hill's five best-selling Celtic Christmas collections, this 19-track Best Of features atmospheric yuletide classics and originals from some of contemporary Celtic music's most celebrated performers. Highlights include Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill and Donal Lunny's lush "Third Carol for a Christmas Day,"Altan's "Soillse Na Nollag (The Lights of Christmas)" and former Silly Wizard fiddler Johnny Cunningham's "King Holly, King Oak." These are reverently performed and arranged tunes that despite their occasional nose-dive into new age, factory-preset keyboard-land, manage to provide the audio equivalent of a well-tended fireplace. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide
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