3 CDs offer new twists on your yule favorites

ARTURO DELMONI AND FRIENDS; "A String Quartet Christmas" (Listen) ★★★★

ANONYMOUS 4; "The Cherry Tree: Songs, Carols and Ballads for Christmas" (harmonia mundi) ★★★★

DUEHLMEIER-GRITTON DUO; "'Tis the Season" (D&G Productions) ★★★★

Just when you thought you've got every imaginable version and arrangement of your favorite Christmas songs in your CD collection, along comes something new.

But fortunately these three albums, including one by local pianists Susan Duehlmeier and Bonnie Gritton, present a new twist to many old classics as well as offer some unusual and, needless to say, seldom heard music related to the holiday season.

Violinist Arturo Delmoni is no stranger to Utah audiences. For years he was a staple at the Park City Music Festival, where he put his remarkable technique and rich expressive musicality on display. And with "A String Quartet Christmas," Delmoni and his string quartet partners, as well as a harpist and organist on some tracks, shows a different side to his artistry.

This three-disc set is a re-release of albums that were originally issued singly in the mid 1990s. This is a wonderful collection of holiday music with a different perspective. And a string quartet can surprisingly do wonders with some well worn favorites. Among the stand out pieces that sound fabulous in a string quartet arrangement are "Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen," "Good King Wenceslas," the Bach/Gounod "Ave Maria" as well as Schubert's setting of "Ave Maria."

This collection is an absolute delight and sets the Christmas mood perfectly.

The four female singers who are Anonymous 4 have taken early music to a new level. Their insightful performances that are historically accurate, yet vibrant and meaningful, have reinvigorated early music and made it more accessible to a larger audience.

For their 18th recording on the harmonia mundi label, Anonymous 4 has turned to Christmas music, but not to your standard favorites. They've chosen 13 English and Irish pieces from the 14th and 15th centuries along with four early 19th century songs for the Christmas season.

As one has come to expect from this vocal quartet over the past quarter century, their performances are exquisitely crafted and sung with feeling, eloquence and wonderful expressiveness. These are beautiful, heartfelt songs and performed only as Anonymous 4 can. It's for these reasons that "The Cherry Tree" should find its way under your Christmas tree this year.