Your eyelids narrow to slits and you tuck head to chin, bracing against icy gusts as you make for a battery of persuasive, brightly-lit store windows. It’s a full week before Christmas–look at you, all on top of the situation, with a carefully considered list of gifts to buy buried in your parka. No eleventh-hour frenzy this year. Tiny platoons of chattering children curl the corners of your frosty lips skyward as the soothing aromas of mulling spices and candied confections drift past. An infinity of sparkling lights showering the trees stirs something inside you. Something lovely, and pure, and radiant. An inviting cloud of warm air envelops you as you thrust the first door open. Your ears prick up as you begin to Imagine Christmas… Note the three striking elements on this record, from the minute you press play. The first is the quality of the performances. These are top-level musicians bringing their same superlative artistry to Christmas favorites that they do to a Schubert quartet or Taverner score. The