The Christmas Album

German baritone Benjamin Appl celebrates Christmas with the tradition of Bach chorales and folk songs from Germany, Austria, America, Great Britain, Sweden, France and the Netherlands. He is accompanied on this truly universal Christmas celebration by the Regensburger Domspatzen, of which he was a member in his youth, the Munich Radio Orchestra and instrumentalists (including his own mother on guitar): "Christmas evokes intense memories and emotions in all of us. It takes us back to our childhood: that sense of magic and excitement that is so often rekindled by seeing a traditional nativity scene or the lights on the Christmas tree or by listening to Christmas carols... With all these images in mind, I returned to my hometown to record this album with 'my' boys' choir. To be back among the choir singers after more than twenty years and to hear the familiar sound was a very intense feeling."