If on a Winter's Night

Adapter: Sting.
Personnel: Sting (vocals, guitar, lute, snare drum, percussion); Mary MacMaster (vocals, harp); Lisa Fischer (vocals, background vocals); Dean Parks (guitar, mandolin); Dominic Miller (guitar); David Mansfield (12-string guitar, dulcimer, mandocello, mandolin); Edin Karamazov (lute); Bassam Saba (oud, ney); Svetlana Tsoneva, Peter Tickell, Kathryn Tickell, Daniel Hope (violin); Dov Scheindlin (viola); Melissa Meell, Vincent Segal, Charles Curtis (cello); MusicAeterna (strings); Daphna Mor (recorder); John Ellis and His SDB (bass clarinet); Kenny Garrett (soprano saxophone); Chris Botti, Ibrahim Maalouf, Chris Gekker (trumpet); Chris Dudley (trombone); Leslie Neish, Marcus Rojas (tuba); John Clark (horns); David Hartley (harmonium); David Sancious (organ); Julian Sutton (melodeon); Jack DeJohnette (drums); Daniel Druckman (snare drum); Bashiri Johnson (frame drum, percussion); Daniel Freedman, Rhani Krija, Donald Hay, Cyro Baptista, Bijan Chemirani, Robert Sadin (percussion); Joe Sumner (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Dave Darlington; Donal Hodgson; Sting; Robert Sadin.
Liner Note Author: Sting.
Recording information: Clinton Recording Studios, NY; Manhattan Center Studios, New York, NY; SevenSeas Studios, New York; Steerpike Studios, Il Palagio, Italy; The Source, Malibu.
Photographer: Tony Molina .
Translator: Theodore Baker.
Arrangers: Sting; Robert Sadin.
It's no secret that Sting is a serious man, so it's only logical that his holiday album -- his first new music since the Police reunion, not that it really matters -- is a serious endeavor, thank you. No niceties for him, no comforts of carols; he favors formal over familiar, writing madrigals, not ditties. It is music made by someone who lives in a castle, which isn't necessarily such a bad thing: the austerity is genuine, not affected, and the cerebral nature of the album is fascinating, albeit mildly so, as this is as sleepy as it is thoughtful. And it's that thoughtfulness that does distinguish IF ON A WINTER NIGHT...; no other Christmas album exists in the head like this. It's a holiday album for people who have never wanted to hear a holiday album, let alone own one.