Reviewed by Brendan O'Regan

Tranquillo are a duo from Aberdare featuring Sarah Waycott on flute and Hannah Mitchell on piano. Rebecca Faith Mitchell, Hannah's sister, is credited with the arrangements. This album is useful as background music to creative festive atmosphere, but I'm not convinced people will want to sit and listen to it. The performers are accomplished, and the album is produced to a high standard, but the range of the instruments is too narrow for 'Christmas' to hold the listener. Next time Tranquillo might get some of their musical friends to contribute to a fuller sound. Christmas albums are tricky - you have to be faithful to tradition yet also provide something new. There's one attractive new tune here, "Seren Y Nos (Star Of The Night)", though being an instrumental it's hard to see what connects it with Christmas. I'm not really keen on the way they have played around with favourites "Silent Night" and "Away In A Manger" - the approach has an improvisational, experimental feel, but the charm of these songs is their simplicity - you mess with these at your peril!

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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