MARGOT KRIMMEL and
BETH LEACHMAN-GADBAW
Icy December
* * *
I’m on record as saying that I’d prefer orchestral music
arranged for jackhammer and dental drills to listening to holiday music. I’m
not alone; one of my editors says he’d resign before he ran a review of a Christmas recording. Speaking
for myself, I dislike the forced jollity of secular Christmas songs, the contrived
sentimentality of the religious ones, the mythical family values wholesomeness,
and the fact that I’ve been hearing these songs blast from Christmas Tree Shops
since Jesus was a lad. But I do enjoy
listening to Beth Leachman-Gadbaw’s vocals so if I must listen to holiday
music, I’m glad she’s anchoring Icy
December. And I’m doubly glad that Margot Krimmel is there to add crystalline
harp.
Credit Leachman-Gadbaw and Krimmel for featuring some of the lesser-known seasonal songs, such as the title track,
“Gloucestershire Wassail,” “The Donkey and the Doves,” and the old-timey
influenced “When Jesus Lived in Galilee.” They also offer some unfamiliar but
fine things from the Celtic realm such as “Prayer for St. Brigid” and the
beautiful Turlough O’Carolan harp composition “Loftus Jones.” Kudos also for
mixing in original pieces such as Krimmel’s “Before the Snow” and the co-written
“Song of Peace.” Krimmel is equally at home with folk, jazz, and classical
harp, but on this album she opts mostly for glassy notes, colder tones, and
introspective moods–all appropriate for the season. For her part,
Leachman-Gadbaw indulges her passion for Irish music and harmony singing. Like
Krimmel she acknowledges the cold, short days, but she also seeks to warm us
with spirited cadences and the joyous inflection of her voice, one with just
the right blend of youth and maturity.
Okay, so there isn’t much that’s going to make me warm to
“The First Noel” or “What Child Is This?” but I immensely enjoyed the things
that didn’t make visions of Bing Crosby dance in my head. So maybe I’m only a
Grinch-in-training. --Rob Weir
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