There is nothing daring or adventurous about these arrangements by Jessop and his associate directors, Mack Wilberg and Barlow Bradford, but that is not what the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is about. Their style may be conservative, but they do what they do exceedingly well. The album opens with a rousing version of "Joy To the World," with pomp and fanfare aided by a powerful pipe organ. More melodic and pensive compositions such as "Whence Is That Goodly Fragrance?," "The First Noel," and "How Far Is It To Bethlehem?" benefit from the dulcet strings of the Orchestra at Temple Square. There is also some wonderful interplay between the male and female choruses in "Carol Of The Bells," lyrically intertwining the massed vocals of each section.

This recording is one of Telarc’s first to utilize DSD recording technology. DSD, or Direct Stream Digital, is the new SACD format that uses a one-bit word length and increases the sampling frequency to the extremely high rate of 2.8224 MHz. Even so, the sound quality of this CD is a little disappointing. Whether this is a result of the engineering of the original recording, the subsequent down conversion to the lower resolution of compact disc, or a combination of both is not readily evident. But the recording is flat, lacking in air and sounds slightly constrained. The choir images well across the soundstage, but it does not float in mid-air between the speakers with a palpable presence as it would in a truly exceptional recording. The fidelity of the vocals and the orchestral instruments is good, but there is little sense of the recording space.