It's not only a wonderful Christmas, but also Michael W. Smith's 20th album in an illustrious 25-year career. His third holiday project stylistically falls somewhere between 1989's Christmas and 1998's Christmastime (every 9 years, eh?), with a little bit of his 2000 instrumental project Freedom thrown in. The sweeping orchestrations are back, though more schmaltzy with the pop feel of a film soundtrack—the whimsical title cut is a dead ringer for John Williams' contributions to the Harry Potter films. The instrumentation is rich, featuring four choirs and a 65-piece orchestra recorded at London's Abbey Road studios. Nearly half the disc is instrumental, some more Christmas sounding than others—"Song for a King" is a deeply expressive piece for piano and violin, but "A Highland Carol" seems more an excuse to play with bagpipes. The vocal pieces are generally strong (celebratory "Christmas Angels," the mini Advent epic "The Promise"), but Smitty's best is oddly the one he doesn't sing on, the choir-and-orchestra anthem "Sing Noel, Sing Hallelujah." As a whole, Wonderful Christmas is a little too familiar and not as inventive as Christmas was, but the music is crafted with more than enough originality and excellence to make it worthwhile.—Breimeier....
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