Annie Lennox releases her sixth solo album, A Christmas Cornucopia. A collection of new, inspired interpretations of 11 traditional festive songs, rounded out by a new Lennox composition, Universal Child.

The music on the album was mostly played by Lennox, in collaboration with co producer Mike Stevens, and recorded in his southwest London studio – at the bottom of his garden. But to achieve the resonance and vibrancy that were integral to Lennox’s ideas for these re-energized reboots, the pair also worked with a 30-piece orchestra at Pinewood Studios. And they travelled further afield too: to South Africa, to record with the African Children’s Choir, a remarkable organization with which impassioned campaigner and activist Lennox has long had a relationship.

A Christmas Cornucopia is no sweetly packaged selection box. As befits its title, it offers an abundance of songs – drawn from British, French and German traditions – and a host of ideas. With her voice, with such sentiments, and with that passion and vision, Lennox has achieved her goal. It’s an album and idea she was, you might say, born to do – Annie Lennox’s birthday is 25th December.