John Boswell - Festival of the Heart

"John Boswell has made an album of transcendent Christmas music to shine through your Holiday each year. It is beautifully musical, yet spiritual at the same time. It's a MUST for your Holiday stocking!"

- JUDY COLLINS, Singer, Songwriter

John Boswell likes to do things the hard way. Trying to build an identity in the notoriously overcrowded racks of solo piano albums, for example, is like inventing a better burger - possible, but...difficult. Yet the ardent fans of his two solo albums for the short lived Scarlet label (The Painter, 1988 and Kindred Spirits, 1989) have already gotten the message: this is an artist of uncommon gifts.

Lyricism, economy, and fullness of emotion are the hallmarks of the Boswell style. Turn this sensibility loose on some of the most cherished melodies of western folk and sacred music, add the tasteful, uncluttered orchestrations of producer BRIAN KEANE, season with a group of talented soloists, and you have the ingredients of a superior holiday album.

Christmas music isn't that easy either. The problem, in a word, is sentimentality. But Boswell and Keane have looked deep into these easily trivialized Christmas songs, discovered the core of beauty and essential emotion hidden under the years of kitsch and tinsel, and given each piece a fresh reading and a new radiance.

It's an exquisitely delicate line to tread. A piano phrase overplayed, a support instrument chosen carelessly, a tempo rushed, and you're off to the land of Welk. Festival of the Heart avoids the cliches and delivers an authentically musical experience. This is one holiday album you can give your grandmother, play for your children, and enjoy yourself.

2-HOS-11031