A Midwinter Night´s Dream

Loreena McKennitt - A Midwinter Night´s Dream

Loreena McKennitt is set to release her 2008 Christmas album A Midwinter Night's Dream  album for the first time on coloured vinyl on October 7th 2022.

The first vinyl edition of these recordings was released in a 5000 copy, 180g black vinyl limited edition pressing in 2016 which has long since sold out.

This new pressing is available in a 140g transparent red edition with the complete original artwork including a four page 12 x 12 booklet containing sleeve notes and lyrics.

The winter and holiday themed album features five tracks from McKennitt’s 1995 EP, A Winter Garden: Five Songs For The Season, and eight additional songs recorded for the original release of A Midwinter Night's Dream on compact disc in 2008. 

This much-loved collection of Christmas and winter themed recordings is both expansive and exotic. Featuring middle-eastern and Celtic textures throughout, there are well-known offerings including The Holly & The Ivy and God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen as well as lesser-known classics such as Emmanuel sung in Latin, and Noel Nouvelet  sung in Old French.

McKennitt comments “I hope some of the scent of frankincense and myrrh comes through, I wanted to bring some of the east back into the musical picture.”

All the songs  were recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World recording studio near Bath, England.  Musicians featured include Brian Hughes, Robert White, Hossam Ramzy, Hugh Marsh, Caroline Lavelle, Donald Quan, Waiel Abo Baker Ali, Ben Grossman, Abdelli, Simon Edwards, Rick Lazar and Stratis Psaradellis while in addition to vocals, McKennitt adds piano, accordion and harp accompaniment  to several of the album’s tracks.

Features lushly produced folk renditions of seasonal traditionals and McKennitt originals. Like all of McKennitt's material, these songs gorgeously blend folk traditions from around the world (with an emphasis on the Irish and Scottish), seasoned with a sizable dose of literate universalist mysticism, and undistractingly garnished with a shimmering, glossy modern pop polish ...  The songs are immaculately produced as always, and McKennitt's predilection for Eastern mysticism and unique instrumentation keeps them from falling into the usual seasonal clichés.

- AllMusicGuide (1995 & 2008)