About This CD

This is the perfect Christmas gift. "Christmas Treasures" is a collection of beautiful but little-known Christmas carols from around the world, sung by Eileen Mager's warm and clear voice. The accompaniments are arranged and performed by Ellen Brown, using sounds carefully chosen to reflect each carol's culture of origin. The carols are sung in their original languages and in English.

Christmas is the season for which more music has been written than any other: gorgeous music, touching music, charming music, grand music, light-hearted music, even funny music. Some Christmas music was written by famous composers, and some by people whose names will never be known. And the sad thing is that most of it is only rarely heard. The artists wanted to share a very special kind of delightful Christmas carol: The kind you don’t hear all the time, and may never have heard at all.

The carols on this recording are, of course, celebratory of the Christmas story. But they also give insights into the cultures from which they come, because each culture expresses the Christmas story in its own metaphor. For example, you find echo carols (like Als ich bei meinen Schafen wacht) coming from Alpine countries, where there are echoes aplenty. The Huron Indian carol, Twas in the Moon of Wintertime speaks of wrapping the baby Jesus in a ragged rabbit skin.

Make this lovely and engaging recording a part of your own personal Christmas tradition.

About This CD

Broadway musicals have always been about love in its infinite forms. This has resulted in a huge crop of wonderful love songs - joyous, sad, flirtations, angry, passionate, mischievous, touching. They range from the deeply serious to the out-and-out hilarious, as. come to thing of it, does love itself.

So in this recording, West Side Story's Maria proclaims her joy in "I Feel Pretty" and South Pacific's Nellie Forbush displays similar feelings in "A Wonderful Guy."

We also have Guys & Dolls's Adelaide singing "Adelaide's Lament" about the cold she's developed because of the frustration of a 14-year engagement to Nathan Detroit that seems destined never to result in a wedding.

Pal Joey's Vera, a sophisticated "older" woman, who knows Joey isn't worth it, sings about finding herself nonetheless "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered."

Of course, Kate of Kiss Me, Kate in no uncertain terms announces "I Hate Men," while Oklahoma's irrepressible Ado Annie sings "I Cain't Say No."

On the Town's lady taxi driver, Hildy, tries to convince us of her total desirability with the madcap seduction of "I Can Cook, Too," while Sally of Follies sings of her total immersion in her love in one of Broadway's most touching love songs, "Losing My Mind."

As you may have guessed, the hardest part was limiting the number of songs to what could be scrunched into a single CD.

We hope you enjoy them.
Eileen Mager

About This CD

This collection of French songs, which has received praise from the legendary French entertainment figure Jean-Christophe Averty on his “France-Culture” radio show, includes songs from as far back as 1800 to the 1950s, many of them real rarities. The recording is perfect for lovers of great songs, whether or not those lovers happen to be French speakers (the booklet includes translations of all the songs). The songs include some old favorites -- such as Plaisir d’Amour, Ne Me Quitte Pas, and Les Feuilles Mortes (“Autumn Leaves”) -- and many which are virtually never heard in the U.S. -- such as Barbara, Celui Qui Meurt d’Aimer, and Paris Canaille. They are sung beautifully in the original French by Eileen Mager, whose voice is gorgeous and versatile, and whose expressiveness is truly special.

Pianist/keyboardist/arranger Ellen Brown, who also accompanied her on her Christmas Treasures and her "Broadway: Love & Laughter" albums, accompanies on this recording with her usual superb style and sensitivity.