Responsible for bringing harmonica music back into the German charts,
Michael Hirte's festive-themed third album,
Einsamer Hirte & die Schönsten Weihnachtslieder, would test the patience of even its most ardent aficionados. With his dramatic back-story (
Hirte only picked up the harmonica while recovering from a car accident that left him in a coma for two months), it's understandable why 72 percent of the RTL-viewing audience voted for him to win the second series of Das Supertalent (Germany's answer to America's Got Talent) back in 2008. It's less understandable, though, why anyone who heard his previous two Der Mann Mit der Mundharmonika volumes would subject themselves to a further 18 tracks that sound like they've been recorded using the demo button on a child's first miniature keyboard. The track list may feature some of the most well-loved seasonal classics, ranging from German Christmas carols ("Leise Rieselt der Schnee," "Alle Jahre Wieder") to universally known yuletide standards ("White Christmas," "Winter Wonderland"), but swamped in layers of sickly synthetic strings and tinny percussion, they're all subjected to the kind of budget "Muzak" treatment that drives most Christmas shoppers to despair. A cheap bossa nova-tinged rendition of
Wham!'s "Last Christmas" does little to improve matters either, while a low-rent cabaret-style interpretation of "Ave Maria" (the song that helped him storm to victory in the final) relegates one of Schubert's most popular works to nothing more than a schmaltzy piece of lift music.
Hirte's obviously a talented harmonica player, but the Christmas spirit-crushing production values on
Einsamer Hirte & die Schönsten Weihnachtslieder would more than likely turn even Santa Claus into a miserly old Scrooge. ~ Jon O'Brien