The Carreras DVD was taped in 1990, just a little more than a year after the tenor returned to the world stage after his protracted illness. His voice is top notch, although his manner seems a little stiff in this confined church environment in which he is only accompanied by pianist Lorenzo Bavaj, and occasionally by the Mozart Boys Choir of Vienna under the direction of Erich Schwarzbauer. Other local artists are Hermann Baumann on horn and alphorn, Sebastian Baumann on flugelhorn, Wolfgang Kläsener on the church's organ, and Andrew Hannan on piano.

The selection of music is wide, ranging from established carols to less familiar music celebrating Christmas, and even includes Irving Berlin's secular White Christmas and, of course, the ever popular carol, Silent Night.

Musically this DVD has much to offer and so will make good background music for Christmas entertaining, but the camera work is not up to par for sustained viewing. There is a little mislabeling in that Greensleeves, played on horn and organ only, is attributed to William Chatterton Dix. He merely wrote the lyrics, What Child is this?, in the 19th century to a tune that dates back to Henry VIII's time. Some even attribute it to Henry. Since the tune wasn't sung to Dix's s words, he doesn't come into the picture. The other drawback is that the DVD titles are in German. The booklet accompanying the DVD does have English text, but it would have been nice if more effort had been made to give details about the various songs.

Consequently, this DVD does not get the full five stars, if rated, but hovers around 3 1/2 as far as I am concerned, which I regret because Carreras is one of my most favorite tenors. Still, it is good value when compared to other DVDs on the market.

Christmas with Winchester College Chapel Choir gets higher marks from me. Shot in Hong Kong, its sound is good, its is visual quality is good, and what is a definite plus is that the length of the music is given on the cover and inside the accompanying booklet. There are also lyrics given so that one can easily sing along with the performers, if so desired. And who doesn't like to sing such tunes as The First Noël, or O come, all ye faithful? Where songs are performed in another language, English translation is provided in the booklet, definitely a plus for me.

The orchestra and choir perform well together, and soprano Sara Macliver shines in J.S. Bach's 'Herr, der du stark und mächtig bist' from his Cantata No. 10. What is regrettable is that the booklet does not tell the reader that Sara Macliver is one of Australia's most popular and versatile artists, who appears there in opera, concert and recital performances and on many recordings. She is regarded as one of the leading exponents of the Baroque repertoire in Australia. I don't think North American audiences know her too well. So, some explanation would have been in order.

Any other complaints? Not really. I give this DVD 4 1/2 stars. And, as all Naxos products, it is excellent value when it comes to shelling out dollars.