Best Loved Christmas Carols is compiled from the many fine holiday recordings of Choir of King's College, Cambridge, and modeled in format after the group's annual Christmas Eve "Lessons and Carols" service. It includes hymns, Christmas-themed anthems, and all of the most familiar carols -- some in traditional arrangements, and some in more modern clothes. The recordings themselves date from 1964-1979, meaning that the fidelity and noise levels vary considerably from track to track, as does the vocal sound of the choir itself. Audiophiles might find that annoying, but others might enjoy the sense of perspective it provides on the group's work over the years. (Those familiar with the King's Singers, which started as an offshoot of the choir, might even pick out some of the original members' voices in the earliest recordings.) All of the tracks were conducted by either David Willcocks or Philip Ledger, both of whom had long tenures as the group's director. Ledger's wooden, four-square style sapped carols of their natural rolling rhythm, and his almost militaristic approach to diction results in humorously accented consonants. But Willcocks is the primary conductor represented here, and his more fluid approach flatters both the choir and the music itself. He also recorded the choir from slightly farther away, which adds more sense of the King's College chapel's vast acoustic. ~ Allen Schrott, All Music Guide
