A disc of Christmas chestnuts would seem to be almost obligatory for any classical recording star. How odd that, after 20 years and almost 100 records, Emma Kirkby has only now, in the year 2000, made her very own Christmas album. It"s admirably free of kitsch as holiday collections go--even the title is unassuming--and the few chestnuts there are (Pachelbel"s Canon and Gigue, Corelli"s "Christmas" concerto grosso, Bach"s "Air on the G String") get alert, gracious, and thoroughly winning performances from the seven instrumentalists of London Baroque. The Divine Miss Em herself sounds just a bit quavery in two Advent-themed arias from Bach cantatas, but she brings to two solo cantatas by Alessandro Scarlatti the silvery tone, intelligent musicianship, and generally enchanting quality her many admirers have always prized. Perhaps the nicest treat of all is on the disc"s opening track: a captivating arrangement by one Phillip Friedrich Böddecker of the German chorale tune "Resonet in laudibus / Joseph lieber, Joseph mein"--in a performance that demonstrates why Emma Kirkby is a treasure. --Matthew Westphal