A welcome memento for the Trapp Family, but ....
John Austin | Kangaroo Ground, Australia | 09/08/2000
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Before they disbanded in the 1950s, the Trapp Family Choir made a series of recordings on the Festival label. Years of singing together and touring had brought their work to a much higher level of performance than can be heard in the recordings they made soon after they arrived in the USA in 1939. From these 1950s recordings, a selection of Christmas carols, issued in 1992 on this CD, is all that is currently available. Sadly, I cannot report that this issue will do much to perpetuate or enhance the family's reputation. A process of dubbing has reduced the original sound quality and introduced an audible hum, defects I don't hear when I replay the items as they originally appeared on LPs. While hoping for better reissues, I meanwhile welcome this extremely inexpensive 37 minute memento. The delightful carols are arranged by the choir's conductor, Dr Franz Wasner. A verse of the well-known "Silent Night", in its original form, is sung first in German, then in English, and then hummed."