Ingvar Wixell - Christmas Music of Sweden


I posted three of the Capitol "Christmas In" series today and wanted to an addendum - in later years, Capitol would take foreign artists like Wiener Sangerkanben (aka The Vienna Boys Choir) and add them to their "Christmas In" series, add "passport stamps", and make it real international.

The unofficial Capitol "Christmas In" checklist (if there are other countries I've left out, leave us a comment and I'll add it to the list):
  • Christmas In England
  • Christmas In Germany
  • Christmas In Spain
  • Christmas In Sweden
  • Christmas In Mexico
  • Christmas In France
  • Christmas In Holland
  • Christmas In Italy
  • Christmas In Austria
  • Christmas In Brazil (thanks, Dantalian)
Here's an album that wasn't a part of that series but could qualify as one. When I discovered the three Capitol "Christmas In" albums at my local thrift store, this album wasn't too far behind in the stacks.

Mexico has Placido Domingo, Spain has Jose Carreras, but Sweden has Ingvar Wixell. A baritone opera singer, Wixell began his career in 1955 with the Royal Swedish Opera, then moved to Germany to become a member of Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1967, where he stayed for 30 years until his retirement.

This album was released in 1965 and if you're looking for a Swedish Christmas opera album, look no further. Wixell sings his heart out on many of the Swedish songs on this album - this guy can belt.


Ingvar Wixell - Christmas Music Of Sweden


This isn't the first time I've typed about Wixell - earlier this year I reviewed a Swedish comp I received as a gift and whaddya know? Ingvar was on it!

Happy listening...


Capt

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hello.

Don't forget Christmas In Portugal.

Thanks,

Chris
12/14/2008 08:46:00 PM
CaptainOT said…
Christopher - Added to the list! Thanks!


Capt
12/16/2008 10:27:00 PM
David Foss david_foss@harvard.edu said…
Hi: I too have been collecting the Capitol International "Christmas in..." series for several years, after getting curious about my (half-Swedish) wife's childhood copy of the Christmas in Sweden LP. There are at least nine other LPs in this series (I have copies of all of them) that I've found so far: Portugal, Norway, Cambridge (England), Ireland, and some I didn't expect: Poland, Greece (the album is actually titled "A Greek Christmas" but it's definitely in the series), Australia, Cuba, and The Phillipines(!). Most of these were issued in at least two versions (mono and stereo), some also had a rechanneled-to-stereo release (called "Duotone"); in general, the mono versions have much more interesting covers than the stereo versions, which have either reduced versions of the mono cover art or entirely new (more "modern looking") cover art. (The "Duotone" versions have the same cover art as the mono versions.) I even have a Swedish release of the Christmas in Sweden LP (on Swedish EMI) that has entirely different cover art--a really sweet Christmas illustration, rather than a photo--but it's the same recording as the Capitol version. I keep looking for an "official" list of all the records in this series, and yours is the first even unofficial list I've found. Thanks for posting this!
11/01/2009 04:10:00 AM
Anonymous said…
I found your old blog and was able to download Christmas In sweden, Italy, and rermany. What a gift to find after all these years. Have you posted the other Christmas in series such as France, Austria, or England and Mexico somewhere else on the web? It would be very special to have the whole collection to play for my grandchildren. They are from my childhood 40 years ago, Thank you! Merry Christmas!
Dec.21, 2010

stache@dishmail.net
12/21/2010 06:39:00 PM
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