José Carreras's new Christmas video, Concerto di Natale, is a delight. It's his best Christmas video since Silent Night. Perhaps, in some ways, it's even better. It's less staged. It's just José and the music in this beautiful church. The video is of a concert Carreras gave last December at the Basilica di San Ambrogio in Milan. The orchestra was conducted by David Giménez-the question is which orchestra? The video's case says the orchestra is the Emilia Romagna Symphonic Orchestra, but the opening and closing credits said it was the Arturo Toscanini Orchestra. Whoever they were, they played well and were ably conducted by Maestro Giménez.

The concert opened with an instrumental piece, J.S. Bach's "Allegro cantata." Then came the moment one always waits for-the appearance of Carreras. His first song was the familiar "Adeste Fideles," while a traditional beginning to many a Christmas concert or service, it's probably not the best for Carreras to begin a concert with, he sounded a little dry. He seemed a little unfamiliar with the next two songs. The first was Bach's "Panis Angelicus," not to be confused with the more familiar one by Cèsar Franck-his eyes kept darting to the music stand and he wasn't comfortable. Next came a traditional carol, "Lulayze yezuniu,"-once again, his eyes were constantly darting toward the music stand, but he seemed to feel comfortable with the carol. This was followed by a spirited orchestra rendition of Handel's "Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.

Carreras returned to the stage to sing the next set consisting of Franck's "Panis Angelicus," "Tu scendi dalle stelle," and "Mille cherubini in coro." All three were beautifully sung, the latter two especially. These were followed by another orchestral piece, "Judex" by Charles Gounod.

It was in the last set that Carreras really shone. The set consisted of "Pregara," "The Little Drummer Boy," "La Virgen lava pañales," and finally, the Schubert "Ave Maria." I'm not especially fond of the Schubert "Ave Maria;" it suffers in my opinion, as do a number of other popular pieces of music, from over exposure. However, Carreras sang it with a perfect blend of reverence and feeling. He sang "Pregara" in Catalan-so as always, when he sings in his native tongue, it was very special. At the end of the carol, he pulled out the little Catalan flag badge that Linda Perez had made for him. It sounded to my ear as though he was also singing "La Virgen" in Catalan, rather than Spanish, but I'm not sure. I'll have to go back and listen more carefully.

As beautiful as these were, it was "The Little Drummer Boy" that really stole the show. It is often commented on, by professionals and fans alike, that he doesn't just sing a role-he becomes the character. Well, for those few minutes, he became that little drummer boy.

The encores consisted of "The Lord's Prayer," sung in English; "White Christmas," sung in English and complete with the introduction that one rarely hears; and finally, "Silent Night," sung this time, entirely in Catalan. Just perfect.

It was a beautiful concert. I have the VHS version and I played it on old equipment-a 15 year old TV and an 11 year old VCR-but it was beautifully filmed and the sound quality was excellent. My only criticism of the camera work was that often they went for a distance shot-I'm sure to show the beauty of the church and size of the audience. I would have preferred more close-up shots, as I know we were missing some of the interaction between José and David. However, that's a minor critiscism, Concerto di Natale is a perfect addition to either a Christmas or a Carreras video collection.