The review says, “If any country is in need of the Christmas spirit, peace and goodwill it is Ukraine. The fact that Ukrainian Christmas has appeared at all is fairly miraculous, recorded as it was in November 2023 and January 2024 in the Liudkevych Hall, Lviv. The country has a long tradition of Christmas carols, whose melodies and meaning must resonate even more deeply these days as it contends with its Russian aggressors.

The programme consists of 10 traditional Ukrainian carols, a more recent creation (On a sleigh God was born, 1988) and a longer (9’33”) Fantasia from 2023 by the Ukrainian composer Bohdan Kryvopust, the man responsible for all the arrangements. The soloist on all tracks is the Ukrainian-born violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv, currently head of strings at the University of Connecticut.

As the excellent booklet by Ukrainian-American musicologist Marika Kuzma has it: ‘No matter the gravity and suffering of the moment, Ukrainians look to the heavens and to their land for comfort, and at Christmastime they continue to wish a season of wonder and joy to “all people of good will”.’