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"Album of the Week." - Classic FM Choirmaster Gareth Malone embarked on a journey around the UK to bring together musicians from local communities on A Great British Christmas, his first holiday album. Malone does what he does best, working with a host of singers, including the London Youth Choir, Belfast Community Gospel Choir, Birmingham Gospel Choir and the Invictus Choir. His own choir, Voices, can be heard on every track except one, Only You, which features Malone's own voice stacked up to form a one-man choir. Selections range from winter favourites and music from Frozen to traditional Christmas songs in original arrangements and even Malone's own carol A Child Is Born, the first piece he ever wrote, composed while he was still at school. "Christmas is a time for being together with family or friends. It’s a time for reaching out to those in need and it can be a time to remember those who are no longer with us. At the heart of those moments, music is there to help us make sense of it all ... I set out to reflect the true soundtrack to Christmas in Britain. I visited community halls, schools, workplaces and people’s homes, recording the sounds I heard and weaving them into this album. It’s full of personal moments: from my first-ever publicly performed teenage composition to a song written last year in response to the ongoing refugee crisis and a song recorded in the shed at the bottom of my garden ... from Glasgow to Cornwall, Cardiff to Belfast I found a tapestry of musical delights with bell ringers, brass bands, community choirs, children’s voices and some of my musical friends as soloists. I wish you a very happy Christmas and all the joy that music can bring." - Gareth Malone