Calmus Christmas Carols is a Carus-Verlag release featuring the astonishing Leipzig-based vocal group Calmus Ensemble. Born in 1999 among members of the Thomasschule Boy's Choir who had graduated, Calmus Ensemble decided to expand the scope of its repertoire and added soprano Anja Lipfert to the group in 2001. The resulting blend is gorgeous and reminiscent of the sound of 1960s vocal groups such as the Swingle Singers, the Singers Unlimited, or Brasil '66, except that Calmus Ensemble is not nearly as limited to a particular style or genre of music as those groups were; it can do straight up 16th century hymn settings and "Thank God It's Christmas," composed by Queen guitarist Brian May, equally well. The whole album has a very nice progressive flow to it, beginning with an arcane hymn, "Maria durch ein Dornwald ging," near medieval in style and accompanied largely with drones, to some very hip and contemporary material. All of the pieces are in some sense arranged, most being new although they do draw upon Max Reger's recasting of the traditional melody "Schlaf mein Kindelein"; it's truly beautiful, as is the rest of this disc. While it is as expansive in range as a typical Chanticleer Christmas disc, it is more restrained and natural in style, more like one of the RIAS-Kammerchor's Christmas programs, though not as monolithic in mood as that option generally turns out to be. Also, not all of the pieces are easily recognizable, so there are stretches where mood takes hold of the program, yet the selection is not so far from the familiar that one forgets that this is music for the holiday season. If you are looking for a Christmas disc that has a wholesome, warm, and traditional feel yet is reasonably upbeat and contemporary sounding, you can hardly go wrong with Carus-Verlag's Calmus Christmas Carols.