Various Artists

The Great Songs of Christmas: Masterworks Edition brings together 18 lush selections primarily drawn from the original, long out-of-print series of LPs, featuring the most beloved carols of all time as performed by the greatest classical artists of the 20th century.  These legends include Leonard Bernstein and The New York Philharmonic, Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, opera greats Richard Tucker, Robert Merrill, and Anna Moffo, cellist-conductor Pablo Casals, and Erich Leinsdorf and The London Symphony Orchestra with The Roger Wagner Chorale.  Half of the tracks are new to CD, and most of the rest can be fiendishly tough to find on out-of-print compilations.  This volume of The Great Songs of Christmas has been freshly remastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVision, and the deluxe 24-page booklet designed by John Sellards features new, track-by-track liner notes by Joe Marchese and rare photos of the artists.