To Drive the Cold Winter Away is Loreena McKennitt

Loreena McKennitt

Loreena Isabel Irene McKennitt, CM, OM, is a Canadian singer, composer, harpist, accordionist and pianist who writes, records and performs world music with Celtic and Middle Eastern themes. McKennitt is known for her refined, clear soprano vocals...

's second album, released in 1987. It pays homage to her childhood memories of music for the winter season, the most vivid of which “came from songs and carols recorded in churches or great halls, rich with their own unique ambience and tradition.”

To capture that remembered ambiance, McKennit kept the arrangements sparse, celebrating the beauty of simplicity. She also chose to leave the found sounds of life in the performances, which were recorded on location in churches and great halls:

• The Church of Our Lady
  Church of Our Lady Immaculate, Guelph
  Church of Our Lady Immaculate is a Roman Catholic church located in Guelph, Ontario, Canada designed by Joseph Connolly. It is considered Connolly's best work. To serve a Roman Catholic parish of predominantly German settlers this Gothic style-church was built between 1875 and 1883...
  
   in Guelph
  Guelph
  Guelph is a city in Ontario, Canada.Guelph may also refer to:* Guelph , consisting of the City of Guelph, Ontario* Guelph , as the above* University of Guelph, in the same city...
  
  , Ontario
  Ontario
  Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
  
  , Canada
  Canada
  Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
  
  
• Glenstal Abbey
  Glenstal Abbey
  Glenstal Abbey is a Benedictine monastery located in Murroe, County Limerick. It is dedicated to Saint Joseph and Saint Columba. The current abbot of the monastery is Dom Patrick Hederman, OSB...
  
  , A Benedictine Monastery near Limerick
  Limerick
  Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...
  
  , Ireland
  Ireland
  Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
  
  
• Annaghmakerrig (The Tyrone Guthrie Centre
  Tyrone Guthrie Centre
  The is a centre for creative artists at Annaghmakerrig, Newbliss, County Monaghan, Ireland, founded in 1981.The house was the family home of Tyrone Guthrie, and it was his will that it be used as a retreat...
  
  ) in County Monaghan
  County Monaghan
  County Monaghan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Council is the local authority for the county...
  
  , Ireland

Track listing

1. "In Praise of Christmas" (Traditional) – 6:06
2. "The Seasons" (Traditional) – 4:55
3. "The King" (Traditional) – 2:04
4. "Banquet Hall" (Loreena McKennit) – 3:53
5. "Snow" (Loreena McKennit/Archibald Lampman) – 5:35
6. "Balulalow" (Traditional) – 3:09
7. "Let Us the Infant Greet" (Traditional) – 3:46
8. "The Wexford Carol
   Wexford Carol
   The Wexford Carol is a traditional religious Irish Christmas carol originating from County Wexford, and specifically, Enniscorthy , and dating to the 12th century. The subject of the song is that of the nativity of Jesus Christ....
   
   " (Traditional) – 6:07
9. "The Stockford Carol" (Loreena McKennit) – 3:02
10. "Let All That Are to Mirth Inclined" (Traditional) – 6:52

Song information

• "The King" features vocals by Cedric Smith
  Cedric Smith (actor)
  Cedric Smith is a British-Canadian actor and musician. He played Alec King in the CBC television series Road to Avonlea and was the voice of Professor X in the X-Men TV series.-Music:...
  
  . Shannon Purves-Smith plays Viols on two other tracks. Everything else was done by McKennitt.
• "Snow" uses the words of the poem of the same name by Archibald Lampman
  Archibald Lampman
  Archibald Lampman, was a Canadian poet. "He has been described as 'the Canadian Keats;' and he is perhaps the most outstanding exponent of the Canadian school of nature poets." The Canadian Encyclopedia says that he is "generally considered the finest of Canada's late 19th-century poets in...
  
  . It was included on a Windham Hill Records
  Windham Hill Records
  Windham Hill Records is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment specializing in Acoustic, New Age and Folk music. Originally founded in 1976 as an Independent record label by guitarist and carpenter William Ackerman and his then-wife Anne Robinson, Windham Hill was a successful and well-respected...
  
  album titled Celtic Christmas (1995).