The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Sissel two Grammy nominations for “Spirit of The Season.” The album was nominated for Best Classical Crossover Album as well as Best Engineered Classical Album.

If you like a bit of variety in your Christmas music, perhaps this new release is what you are looking for. The album features, the now to be expected, solid arrangements of Mack Wilberg as well as the crossover vocal stylings of European superstar Sissel Kyrkjebo (perhaps best known for her contributions to the best-selling movie soundtrack of all-time, Titanic).

Between the familiar rock-solid sound of the choir and the angelic, multifaceted performances of Sissel (ranging from celtic and pop sounds, to more classical timbres), this is an album unlike any the choir has ever released before. As much as I personally love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (you have to if you’re LDS, don’t you?), there is no doubt that it is Sissel who steals the show this time around with her soul-piercing and sensitive performances. Of the eight of the tracks that feature Sissel, particularly of note is her haunting rendition of “In the Bleak Midwinter” which is the albums most popular track on iTunes.

This release continues the tradition the choir has now established of bringing world-famous artists and personalities to Salt Lake for their annual Christmas concerts. The concert was recorded in 2005; this marks the first of these concerts to be released in it’s entirety as a CD.

The choir has two other Christmas CDs that have been released since it started it’s own independant record label. The more recent of these, “The Wonder of Christmas,” also features excerpted performances from this unique series of concerts and boasts big name soloists such as Renee Fleming, Angela Lansbury, Audra McDonald and Bryn Terfel.

The choir’s management is to be applauded for taking on such an ambitious multi-year project.