Guest Author - Michelle Taylor

I have just managed to combine two of my favorite things: Christmas music and finding a new artist.

Sara Botkin’s new Christmas album, Breath of Heaven is a total joy to listen to.

As I’ve said before, my favorite way to listen to a new album is to pop it into my car’s CD player while I’m running around. That’s what I did this morning. My two oldest children were at first going, “Why are you listening to Christmas music now?” Then my 10 year old daughter’s next comment was, “Oh – she sounds so pretty!” And all I could do was totally agree. This is the artist’s 3rd solo album; including her previous Christmas album An Angel’s Christmas and The Spirit’s Quartet: Songs of Love, Nature, Music and Faith

By far, my favorite song is her classic rendition of “Ave Maria”. It is quite easy to picture this being sung by an angel – complete with harp. In fact, this has now surpassed Barbara Streissand’s version as my favorite. I can’t imagine anyone doing it more perfectly. (Sorry, Babs.)

There are quite a few other songs that top my list, too. “I Wonder as I Wander” is Botkin’s own arrangement, yet stays true to the original carol; yearning and searching. And since this has always been one of my favorites, it instantly won my heart.

“Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song)” is written by pop and Christian singer Amy Grant. "The song is sung from Mary's perspective about expecting, and being afraid, but ultimately putting her trust in God's hands. It moved me from the first moment I heard it…” says Sara of the title track. And she really takes us there to that expectant mother’s heart.

“Christmas Time is Here” (or as I always think of it: the Charlie Brown Christmas song) – brings back childhood memories. It’s Sara’s own arrangement, but still makes me think of those little kids around the tree that needs love. Also, the trumpet on this (played by Stephen Hawk) is a wonderful touch.

One thing that is extremely impressive about this CD, is that Botkin does all the vocals for the album herself. There is no choir backing her, it is multiple tracks laid by the artist. Sometimes these multiple tracks sound like a full performance choir. I would have sworn to you that I heard male voices on some of the songs, so I asked her about it. “Yes, I do all the background vocals including the low voices. I always record the low voices first in the recording sessions because those notes only last a few hours after waking up” she laughed.

Some (extremely) impressive examples of this are “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and “O Magnum Mysterium”. The range that Botkin sings doing the multiple tracks on these two songs must cover 3 octaves. You will believe you are listening to men singing, but it really is the soprano. “A Dew in Aprille” and “This Little Babe” also take full advantage of laying multiple tracks, but in a different way. These two songs have an echo effect, almost like a round, that is like listening to the oft referenced Heavenly Host.

I won’t cite all 22 songs by name, but there are a couple more that I feel need special mention. Sara’s own arrangement of “The First Noel” combines flawlessly with Pachelbel’s “Canon in D” – 2 songs that I would have never though about putting together, but which just seem to belong. Another is her rendition of Vivaldi’s “Winter”, where the voices become another instrument as important to the song as the piano, violin, and harp.

And while I’m mentioning instruments, I should point out: not only is Sara Botkin incredibly beautiful, not only does she have an ethereal voice, but she also plays the piano for all the pieces on the album! (Yes, I am a little jealous). Other instrumentalists include Gretchen Van Hoesen on a harp that could play in Heaven. Mark Huggins on violin so smooth people who don’t like the violin will forget about that. Stephen Hawk is the aforementioned trumpeter. Andy Reamer plays all types of percussion, including the exotic steel drums. And Tommy Bellin rounds out the group on Bass, anchoring this group of many talents.

OK, Now for the bad news. There was one song on this CD that I didn’t care for; Botkin’s version of “Mary’s Little Boy Chile”. Her voice is just as beautiful on this song as all others, and the instrumentals on this are fantastic. I just didn’t care for the combination of classical vibrato with a song that I will always equate with the smooth stylings of Harry Belafonte. However, not all of Mrs. Botkin’s fans agree with me. The main reason this song is on the album is because it was requested by so many people after hearing her perform it live.

Regardless, that is only 1 song out of 22 that I didn’t care for. That means there are 21 songs that I thoroughly enjoyed, including another spiritual, “Sweet Little Jesus Boy” which Botkin nails. And I’ll just listen to “Ave Maria” twice, that’s not going to bother me a bit!

Overall, if you are looking for a new and fresh CD to play this holiday season, I highly recommend looking into this one.

If you wish to hear a sample of any of the songs on this CD, or her previous CDs, you can check out her website at Sara Botkin.com. Her CDs can be bought from this site, or by going directly to CD Baby.com.