Review and More

Our Review

For fans of the 1965 movie musical The Sound of Music, this holiday CD will be irresistible. Here come the von Trapp Children--the great-grandchildren of Captain von Trapp, father of the famous singing family featured in the film. When Sofia (15 years old), Melanie (13), Amanda (12), and Justin (9) burst into song, you can almost picture Julie Andrews as the spirited "Maria" swirling in the breathtaking Austrian Alps.

Even if you have never seen The Sound of Music (is there anyone out there who has not?), Christmas with the von Trapp Children has much to offer. First, Christmas is all about children, and the pure sound of young voices celebrating the holiday with both familiar and unusual offerings is a natural fit. The singing is quite pure, almost crystalline; the harmonies are sweet, but not cloying, and tight. No heavy-handed orchestration drowns out the children's singing; instead, the accompaniment is appropriately unobtrusive.

The CD is packed with seventeen tracks, ranging from the ubiquitous Silent Night (sung in German) to lesser known numbers such as Something Told the Wild Geese. The disc opens with Carol of the Bells, a demanding number for immature voices, but the children pull it off with innocence and aplomb. Other interesting cuts include a high-energy, almost reggae version of Angels We Have Heard on High, a moving African-American spiritual entitled What You Gonna Call Your Pretty Little Baby, and a stark-but-angelic O Come, O Come Emmanuel. The harmonies are especially effective in Do You Hear What I Hear, What Child Is This, and O Come Little Children. For me, the weaker cuts on this CD were the two "cutesy" kid songs (Hot Cup of Cocoa and Please Don't Send Me Fruitcake), which were fun, but a bit over-the-top (but many may like that sort of thing), and Feliz Navidad, which seemed to involve more shouting than singing.

On balance, this is an impressive and nicely-balanced collection. So if you want your hills to come alive with the sound of talented kids singing holiday tunes, Christmas with the von Trapp Children is a great choice for you.

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2003)

More

From the liner notes:

"'Silent Night' is significant to the [von Trapp] children in several ways. This carol was written in Austria in 1816 as 'Weihnachtslied' by Rev. Joseph Mohr. It was set to music in 1818 by Franz Gruber, whose grandson actually taught music to Mrs. Werner von Trapp, the children's grandmother. If that were not enough of a connection, according to the children's great uncle, Johannes von Trapp, Maria Rainer von Trapp's ancestors, who were Tyrolean minstrels, started to sing and to popularize the song in Europe as early as the 1820's. In 1839, the Rainer family brought the carol to the United States, where it has since become perhaps the most beloved of Christmas carols."

MAINZER FIGURALCHOR/Vom Himmel Hoch: Europaische Weihnachtslieder (Loosely translated--Heaven on High: European Christmas Music)(Stefan Weiler, conducting)

The Von Trapp Children

Christmas with the Von Trapps

Artist link

Track List