Windham Hill Christmas

I've been a huge fan of Windham Hill holiday samplers since the 1980s with the releases of the first A Winter's Solstice: Windham Hill Artists LP and George Winston's classic December, Piano Solos: 20th Anniversary Edition. Over the next two decades I picked up every Windham hill sampler I could get my hands on and those holiday samplers were among the best. They released numerous volumes in the Celtic Christmas, Carol of Christmas, A Windham Hill Christmas, and Winter Solstice series. Plus there were excellent holiday releases by Liz Story (The Gift), the Turtle Island String Quartet (By the Fireside), Tuck Andress (Hymns, Carols & Songs About Snow), and the Modern Mandolin Quartet (Nutcracker Suite).

So when I saw that a new title in the Windham Hill Christmas series was being released this year I got rather excited: it had been five years since the last new release. Sadly it turns out that this 2010 release is a compilation of tracks previously released on WH holiday samplers. One of the tracks appeared as far back as 1988 on "A Winter's Solstice II". All of the tracks are wonderful but if you're a dedicated fan, like me, you will most likely have all of these selections already. Also with only 10 tracks this is shorter than your typical Windham Hill holiday sampler.

The complete track listing is below along with the LP/CD on which they originally appeared:
1. Joy To the World-Steve Erquiaga 4:08 (Windham Hill Christmas II - 2003)
2. Angels We Have Heard On High-Alex de Grassi 4:17 (A Windham Hill Christmas II - 2003)
3. Circle of Joy-Lisa Lynne 4:43 (Celtic Christmas III - 1997)
4. Patapan-Barbara Higbie 3:43 (A Windham Hill Christmas II - 2003)
5. Greensleeves-Steve Erquiaga 4:26 (A Winter's Solstice: Silver Anniversary Edition - 2001)
6. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas-Liz Story 2:21 (Windham Hill Christmas: I'll Be Home for Christmas - 2004)
7. The Compleat Nutcracker Sweet-Philip Aaberg 5:32 (I'll Be Home For Christmas - 2004)
8. December Morning-Jim Brickman 2:42 (The Carols Of Christmas II: A Windham Hill Collection - 1997)
9. The Dove's Return-Aine Minogue 3:01 (Celtic Christmas II - 1996)
10. Salve Regina-Theresa Schroeder-Sheker 4:14 (A Winter's Solstice II - 1988)

I think you'd be much better off picking up one of the many original Windham Hill collections.

I was introduced to Windham Hill through George Winston's album, "Autumn" while in college. "December" soon followed, even though, at the time, I was still purchasing audiophile quality vinyl at the record store. Then a great fan of Christmas, I eagerly awaited Windham Hill's annual sampler CDs in the mail. They were responsible for my first encounter with Hawaiian slack key music, and eventually induced me to purchase the first Windham Hill Slack Key Christmas compilation (which I highly recommend).

Throughout the nineties Windham Hill music accompanied me in my first job during long drives through the hills and mountains of the southeastern U.S., causing me to reflect on the rise of this type of music during an era when it was clear to many that something was going terribly wrong, even while many sought to proclaim that it was "morning in America". It was instead a time when corporate media were making it clear, via their newscasts and the attitudes that appeared on magazine covers and headlines, that those who were able to purchase the attention of the public were expressing perspectives that were out of touch with many. It was no wonder that so many in the media claimed to be unable to comprehend the appeal of instrumental music from new labels like Windham Hill.

What was difficult to comprehend? Beautiful music from a small label linked to a part of the country steeped in Americana and effectively tied to the publishing house's name was a great combination. That eventually changed. Windham Hill sought to become more mainstream, and innovative new musical genres, including fine, slack key guitar albums produced by Dancing Cat Records, could not overcome the inevitable dilution of Windham Hill's catalog with too little from new artists under its core label that truly stood out distinctly from its prior body of work and the excellence that had marked its early albums from George Winston, William Ackerman, and The Turtle Island String Quartet (e.g. "Chiarascuro" and "Live from Montreaux"). What appeared to be an attempt to introduce new artists to make the label more modern and mainstream didn't succeed. Bought by Sony, there is little left to anticipate other than this sort of compilation. Even if new works were produced, the Windham Hill facade, with giant Sony lurking behind it, isn't likely to have the same charm or original direction as an upstart label tied to Vermont.

With that said, this new release, coming primarily from Windham Hill Christmas albums published after 2000, is likely to have more appeal than one might expect if one thinks of it merely as "another compilation". Some of us were content with a few Windham Hill Christmas albums. We had enough holiday albums from Windham Hill to satisfy our Christmas musical sweet tooth long before the dawn of the new millenium, although we remained curious. This new album is thus an opportunity for those of us who were sitting on significant Windham Hill stacks by the early 1990s to try out some of the later Christmas Album compilations after a long time away from the label. The works on this album should hold some pleasant memories for old fans of Windham Hill. The works selected are clearly oriented more toward the early style of Windham Hill music. I recommend it to those seeking a variation on Windham Hill's once annual sampler albums, or interested in introducing relatives to music from an old friend sure to lend warmth and peace to the holidays.

Windham Hill never disappoints. I have been listening to their works for at least 20 years and I have never been let down. This CD was no exception. My Christmas guests this year, 2011, all asked where they could buy a copy.

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