Arsys Bourgogne/Pierre Cao Naïve V5319 ***

This is self-explanatory. If you want to explore Christmas songs that you mightn't have heard before, the French choir Arsys Bourgogne and conductor Pierre Cao are prepared to guide you around Europe and beyond to the US – Go, tell it on the mountain, White Christmas and Santa Claus is comin' to town mingle with Tebe pojem and Noël Provençal. Silent night is sung in English, French and German, and some other favourites come in languages you mightn't expect. The choir's 20 voices work with a light touch, and the recording, though not made in a church, is nicely atmospheric. There's just one arrangement that sounds a little too tricksy: Gordon Langford's take on Jingle Bells. url.ie/8fjv