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It's A Wonderful Christmas
''It's a Wonderful Christmas'' is an album by Christian recording artist Michael W. Smith. Released in October 2007, this epic album is Smith's third album of Christmas music and features four choirs and a 65-piece orchestra. About half the album is instrumental pieces, including "What Child is This", "Audrey's Gift", and "It's a Wonderful Christmas". Vocal numbers such as "The Promise" and "Christmas Angels" reflect Smith's trademark personal touch and evoke his previous Christmas albums, Christmas (1989) and Christmastime (1998). Smith utilizes the full sound of the orchestra and choirs to produce an album that exudes a "mastery of the adult contemporary sound" and adds "so richly to the Christmas songbook." Track listing Reception ''It's a Wonderful Christmas'' sold 12,759 copies in its first week, 6,000 of them digital. The album has since sold 39,000 copies. The album received several positive reviews. However, '' Billboard'' gave the album a mixed review. In 2008, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael W
Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions * Michael (bishop elect), English 13th-century Bishop of Hereford elect * Michael (Khoroshy) (1885–1977), cleric of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada * Michael Donnellan (1915–1985), Irish-born London fashion designer, often referred to simply as "Michael" * Michael (footballer, born 1982), Brazilian footballer * Michael (footballer, born 1983), Brazilian footballer * Michael (footballer, born 1993), Brazilian footballer * Michael (footballer, born February 1996), Brazilian footballer * Michael (footballer, born March 1996), Brazilian footballer * Michael (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer Rulers =Byzantine emperors= *Michael I Rangabe (d. 844), married the daughter of Emperor Nikephoros I * Mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Celesta
The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box (three-octave). The keys connect to hammers that strike a graduated set of metal (usually steel) plates or bars suspended over wooden resonators. Four- or five-octave models usually have a damper pedal that sustains or damps the sound. The three-octave instruments do not have a pedal because of their small "table-top" design. One of the best-known works that uses the celesta is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovskys "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from ''The Nutcracker''. The sound of the celesta is similar to that of the glockenspiel, but with a much softer and more subtle timbre. This quality gave the instrument its name, ''celeste'', meaning "heavenly" in French. The celesta is often used to enhance a melody line played by another instrument or sect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Top Pop Catalog Albums
Top Pop Catalog Albums is a 50-position weekly albums chart produced by ''Billboard'' Magazine which ranks the best-selling catalog albums in the United States, regardless of genre. ''Billboard'' defines a catalog title as one that is more than 18 months old and that has fallen below position 100 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Albums meeting these criteria are removed from the ''Billboard'' ''Current Albums'' ranking and begin a new chart run on the ''Top Pop Catalog Albums'' chart. Effectively, the ''Billboard Current Albums'' is equivalent to the ''Billboard 200,'' with the catalog titles removed. ''Top Pop Catalog Albums'' also contains reissues of older albums. An album need not have spent any weeks on the ''Billboard'' 200 to be eligible for the ''Top Pop Catalog Albums'' chart (this occasionally occurs if an act has a breakthrough release which prompts a significant increase in sales of prior albums that were not big sellers upon their initial release). The only exception to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Top Christian Albums
Top Christian Albums is a weekly chart published in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the best-performing Christian albums in the United States. Like the ''Billboard'' 200, the data is compiled by Nielsen Soundscan based on each album's weekly physical and digital sales, as well as on-demand streaming and digital sales of its individual tracks. The chart was introduced on the magazine issue dated March 29, 1980, under the title "Best Selling Inspirational LPs". The current name was adopted on August 16, 2003, in an effort to "streamline" chart titles. The first number-one album was Candle's '' Music Machine''. Amy Grant's ''Age to Age'', released in 1982, topped the chart for 85 consecutive weeks, the longest for any album on the chart. As of the issue dated December 24, 2022, the current number-one album is ''Christmas Eve and Other Stories'' by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Artist milestones Most number-one albums Most cumulative weeks at number one Album milesto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Often, a recording act will be remembered by its " number ones", those of their albums that outperformed all others during at least one week. The chart grew from a weekly top 10 list in 1956 to become a top 200 list in May 1967, and acquired its current name in March 1992. Its previous names include the ''Billboard'' Top LPs (1961–1972), ''Billboard'' Top LPs & Tape (1972–1984), ''Billboard'' Top 200 Albums (1984–1985) and ''Billboard'' Top Pop Albums (1985–1992). The chart is based mostly on sales – both at retail and digital – of albums in the United States. The weekly sales period was originally Monday to Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but since July 2015, tracking week begins on Friday (to coinc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, which owned it until Universal Music Group (UMG) took control of part of it in 2013. It is ultimately owned by UMG subsidiary Virgin Records Limited (until 2013 by EMI Records Limited, nowadays known as Parlophone Records and owned by UMG's competitor Warner Music Group). The studio's most notable client was the Beatles, who used the studio – particularly its Studio Two room – as the venue for many of the innovative recording techniques that they adopted throughout the 1960s. In 1976, the studio was renamed from EMI in honour of their final recorded album, ''Abbey Road''. In 2009, Abbey Road came under threat of sale to property developers. In response, the British Government protected the site, granting it English Herita ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Humberto Gatica
Humberto Gatica is a Chilean-born American recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer, best known for his work with Celine Dion, Chicago, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban and Michael Bublé. Gatica's international collaborations include producing artists singing in over six languages. Gatica's career is highlighted by humanitarian projects including We Are the World, We Are The World 25 for Haiti, Hands Across America and Voces Unidas Por Chile. He has received 17 Grammy Awards and 24 nominations. Early life and career Gatica was born in Rancagua, Chile in a musical family. His grandparents owned a bar in Rancagua where they played the piano and the harp. His uncles Arturo, Orlando, María and Lucho Gatica were singers. Lucho Gatica is widely known in Latin America as the “King of Bolero”. At age 9, Gatica's father died of an illness and his mother had to travel to the United States to look for employment. He moved in with his grandmo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The London Session Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony Orchestras. The founders' ambition was to build an orchestra the equal of any European or American rival. Between 1932 and the Second World War the LPO was widely judged to have succeeded in this regard. After the outbreak of war, the orchestra's private backers withdrew and the players reconstituted the LPO as a self-governing cooperative. In the post-war years, the orchestra faced challenges from two new rivals; the Philharmonia and the Royal Philharmonic, founded respectively in 1946 and 1947, achieved a quality of playing not matched by the older orchestras, including the LPO. By the 1960s the LPO had regained its earlier standards, and in 1964 it secured a valuable engagement to play in the Glyndebourne Festival during the summer mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Low Whistle
The low whistle, or concert whistle, is a variation of the traditional tin whistle/pennywhistle, distinguished by its lower pitch and larger size. It is most closely associated with the performances of British and Irish artists such as Tommy Makem, Finbar Furey and his son Martin Furey, Old Blind Dogs, Michael McGoldrick, ''Riverdance'', Lunasa, Donie Keyes, Chris Conway, and Davy Spillane, and is increasingly accepted as a feature of Celtic music. The low whistle is often used for the playing of airs and slow melodies due to its haunting and delicate sound. However, it is also becoming used more often for the playing of jigs, reels and hornpipes from the Irish, Scottish, Manx, Welsh, and English traditions. A reason put forward for this being, it's easier to produce some ornamentation on the whistle, due to the size of the finger holes. The most common low whistle is the "Low D", pitched one octave below the traditional D whistle. A whistle is generally classed as a ''low'' whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penny Whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. A tin whistle player is called a whistler. The tin whistle is closely associated with Irish traditional music and Celtic music. Other names for the instrument are the flageolet, English flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, tin flageolet, or Irish whistle (also ga, feadóg stáin or feadóg). History The tin whistle in its modern form is from a wider family of fipple flutes which have been seen in many forms and cultures throughout the world. In Europe, such instruments have a long and distinguished history and take various forms, of which the most widely known are the recorder, tin whistle, Flabiol, Txistu and tabor pipe. Predecessors Almost all primitive cultures had a type of fipple flute, and it is most likely the first pitched flu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Highland Bagpipes
The Great Highland bagpipe ( gd, a' phìob mhòr "the great pipe") is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland, and the Scottish analogue to the Great Irish Warpipes. It has acquired widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. The bagpipe is first attested in Scotland around 1400, having previously appeared in European artwork in Spain in the 13th century. The earliest references to bagpipes in Scotland are in a military context, and it is in that context that the Great Highland bagpipe became established in the British military and achieved the widespread prominence it enjoys today, whereas other bagpipe traditions throughout Europe, ranging from Portugal to Russia, almost universally went into decline by the late 19th and early 20th century. Though widely famous for its role in military and civilian pipe bands, the Great Highland bagpipe is also used for a solo virtuosic style called ''pìobaireachd'', ''ceòl mòr'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bass Drum
The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. The heads may be made of calfskin or plastic and there is normally a means of adjusting the tension either by threaded taps or by strings. Bass drums are built in a variety of sizes, but size does not dictate the volume produced by the drum. The pitch and the sound can vary much with different sizes, Del Mar, Norman (1981). ''Anatomy of the Orchestra''. . but the size is also chosen based on convenience and aesthetics. Bass drums are percussion instruments and vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. * The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum (in Italian: gran cassa, gran tamburo). It is the largest dr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
