New Age titans Enya and Sarah Brightman will each release holiday albums this fall. Brightman’s “A Winter Symphony” arrives Nov. 4 via Manhattan/EMI, while Enya’s “And Winter Came” follows a week later via Warner Bros.
“A Winter Symphony” is highlighted by versions of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “Happy Christmas (War is Over),” “Silent Night,” “In the Bleak Midwinter” and a duet on “Ave Maria” with Fernando Lima.
Also featured are Neil Diamond’s “I’ve Been This Way Before” and the ABBA instrumental “Arrival,” reconfigured as a vocal piece for the first time ever.
As for “And Winter Came,” Enya originally intended it to be a Christmas-only project but it “evolved into more an Enya album based in a winter landscape where Christmas arrives here and there,” according to longtime collaborator Nicky Ryan.
The 10-track set includes a version of “Silent Night” sung in Gaelige, as well as the traditional “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” First single “Trains and Winter Rains” hits U.S. radio on Monday (Sept. 29).
Both projects are likely to be big sellers in the fourth quarter. Last year, Josh Groban’s “Noel” exploded out of the gate on its way to becoming the top-selling album of 2007. It has sold more than 3.7 million copies in the United States so far, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
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