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A Midnight Clear: A Celtic Christmas Robin Bullock / Al Petteway / Amy White Dorian Recordings (DOR-93250)   Seeing the words "Celtic" and "Christmas" together on an album cover usually means that such a collection consists of a set of warmed-over Greatest Hits of Christmas, the sort of thing one hears ad nauseum in the mall from Thanksgiving through December 25th. This CD, though, inspires greater confidence. The trio of musicians featured here are all highly respected in folk circles: guitarist Robin Bullock and multi-instrumentalists Al Petteway and Amy White. The trio perform instrumental renditions (with an occasional vocal line from White) of Christmas songs that are generally not the sort one hears at the mall; "Greensleeves"-a sweet, fresh arrangement of the centuries-old tune-and "O Come All Ye Faithful" are familiar enough, but other tunes will be less so, except possibly to British listeners. Familiar pieces are given new life by fresh arrangements and, in some cases, by being paired with other songs. A good example is "Coventry Carol," which begins like a flower opening to the dawn via electronic bows applied to guitar strings. It then morphs into "Patapan," a French dancing tune that here acquires an almost Middle Eastern flavor, thanks to some inspired percussion and wordless vocals. There are a couple of American inclusions as well. One of the best is "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," written by a Unitarian minister from Massachusetts and an editor and critic from New York (the liner notes include the history of each piece, as well as notable instruments used in its recording). Another is "We Three Kings of Orient Are," which opens with a soft subtlety before launching into the main melody. There are even a few original tunes hidden among the traditional ones, notably "St. Clair's First Snow," written by White about a cat named St. Clair who experiences snow for the first time. The album's instrumentation is contemplative and soothing, the sort of sound that New Age albums and Celtic Christmas-style collections aim for but rarely achieve. It helps that the softer, sweeter material is tempered with songs such as "Gower Wassail"/"The Boys of Ballisodare." The first of these is an up-tempo wassailing song; the second, an Irish slip jig that the liner notes indicate "has no particular connection with the season, but it fits nicely with the wassail." The CD ends with a lovely rendition of Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria," a simple arrangement consisting of White's voice and Bullock's guitar. In the final analysis, the "Celtic Christmas" label may perhaps be a misnomer. The music on A Midnight Clear hails from many countries, across many eras, and the arrangements dwell somewhere between traditional and modern folk. But all this is just so much nitpicking; A Midnight Clear is a lovely collection of Christmas music and a surefire cure for crowded stores, long lines, holiday traffic, and plastic evergreen. --Genevieve Williams

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