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Winterfall is a holiday recording that has been around for 17 years, and it has aged well like fine vintage wine. Lee Spears (dulcimer, guitar) and Donna Beck (piano, guitar) have produced a tightly-crafted, sparkling album that makes even hardened atheists hear heavenly choirs. On occasion, they get a little help from their friends: Alan Black on cello and Jennifer Sperry on English horn.

This excellent recording is minimalist instrumental folk music of the sweetest kind. The music is oh-so-soothing and even life-affirming. This recording is not fearful of silence, letting thoughtful pauses speak volumes.

The album contains 11 tracks; most are relatively familiar traditional carols, and one ("Winterfall") is delightful original inspired by Vivaldi's "Winter" in "The Four Seasons." The instruments do not join together on every track; just as the dulcimer flies solo on "The First Noel", the piano takes its own turn on the lovely "Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine/No Candle Was There and No Fire" medley. The one track that contains "voices" actually presents only background choral tones in "We Three Kings." I have two favorite cuts on Winterfall, and they are the final two on the disc. "Midnight Clear" ("It Came Upon a Midnight Clear") is an exquisite arrangement, an intensely beautiful mélange built upon a complex and fragile structure. The guitar and piano playfully exchange phrasing, and the English horn (I think!) provides a stately, but mellow, melody line. The final song is "The Angels Sing," a medley of melodies from "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "Ode to Joy," "Angels We Have Heard on High," "O Come All Ye Faithful," "Silent Night," and "Joy to the World." It's a heady concoction with fantastic flow. The interweaving of carols is fascinating, and the medley builds in dramatic intensity before arriving at a feather-soft finish.

Winterfall is an excellent Christmas CD. In a high-anxiety world of over-cranked volumes, this recording is a breath of fresh winter air.

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2004)

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From the liner notes:

Lee Spears: Hammered Dulcimer, Guitar, Voices
Donna Beck Michael: Piano, Guitar, Voices
Alan Black: Cello
Jennifer Sperry: English Horn

Produced by: Lee Spears and Donna Beck Michael
All arrangements by Lee Spears and Donna Beck Michael
All melodies traditional except "Winterfall"
Recorded at: Studio East, Charlotte, NC
Recorded by: H. David Henson
Mixed by: H. David Henson, Lee Spears, and Donna Beck Michael

Lee Spears & Donna Beck Michael

Winterfall: Instrumental Impressions for Christmas and the Winter Season

Artist site

Track List