Christmas Fantastique: Groundbreaking Orchestral Christmas CD Emulates Music from the Movies

Burbank, CA, November 21, 2006 --(PR.com)-- Christmas Fantastique offers listeners an exciting and unprecedented holiday experience: all new arrangements that marry the natural beauty of Christmas melodies with the epic sweep of film music. The CD ranges across many traditional Christmas favorites -- Joy to the World, What Child is This?, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Do You Hear What I Hear?, etc.; each piece rendered with a unique flair, heavily influenced by the lush romantic and dramatic style of movie music.

Recorded with a full orchestra and coming in at a complete hour of music and seventeen distinctive tracks, Christmas Fantastique stands apart from many Christmas releases that are often recycled recordings from years past with limited cuts and too few minutes of music to create a satisfying listening experience. In contrast, every cut from Christmas Fantastique is freshly arranged and recorded, and the album as a total delivers a dynamic and gratifying experience, ranging from peaceful to whimsical to awe-inspiring. One listener said of the album: "It is the best Christmas music I have ever heard. Christmas is about magic and this CD is truly magical." With it's distinctive, groundbreaking approach, this album stands in the tradition of Christmas music forged by such giants as Mannheim Steamroller and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Nelidova Records released Christmas Fantastique in October of 2006 after a solid five years in the making. A team of top-notch composers and arrangers from Hollywood was assembled to craft the innovative arrangements. Given that the primary intention of the album was to fuse the beauty of Christmas melodies with the power of film music, influences included such scores as Harry Potter, Titanic, Out of Africa, Star Trek, and Gone With the Wind. Nelidova then turned to the world-renowned Moscow Symphony Orchestra to breathe passionate new life into these Christmas classics. Recorded at MosFilm's Ton-Studios in the heart of Moscow, it was subsequently edited in Los Angeles, CA and mixed at Simon Le Bon's cutting-edge Syn Studios in Tokyo. ChristmasReviews.com comments: "The selections are mostly the usual suspects, though definitely some of the better ones, but the arrangements along with the masterful performance by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, ... [are] worthy of the highest superlatives. Dramatique! Epique! Fantastique! Check it out!"

Nelidova Records, owned and run by Todd Hayen and Scott McRae, chose the Moscow Symphony Orchestra because of their distinctively passionate sound. Under the capable and soulful baton of Konstantin Krimets, the first-class musicians of this 85-person ensemble take listeners on a dramatic journey through the land of Christmas. In addition to acclaimed performances in its home city of Moscow, the MSO has toured extensively throughout the world, including Europe, China and Japan. With over a hundred recordings to its name, the Moscow Symphony Orchestra has recently contributed extensively to soundtracks and video games and in 2006 was nominated for a Grammy for its recording of The Adventures of Mark Twain.

Christmas Fantastique joins Nelidova's other Christmas album Flute Tootin' Yule, released in 2005. This album warmly celebrates the Christmas spirit, drawing on the natural beauty of instruments from the flute family. From poignant to playful, this collection of vibrant Christmas arrangements features Resonance Flute Consort and uniquely captures the excitement and grace of the holiday season. Nelidova also offers sheet music for most of the arrangements from Flute Tootin' Yule for purchase on their website: http://www.nelidovarecords.com.

Christmas Fantastique is currently available only online or through telephone orders. It can be purchased at http://www.nelidovarecords.com or by calling +1 818-563-3787.

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