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When a musician of James Galway's caliber tackles a pop program, he does so without condescension and offers new insights into familiar songs. Like all great instrumentalists he aspires to a vocal ideal. His version of the old Stevie Wonder hit "Isn't She Lovely" has a new wistful sound, due to the nature of the flute as well as Galway's interpretive subtlety. "Crazy" has considerably more Latin flavor than the recent chart-topper by Julio Iglesias, and "My Heart Will Go On" has an Irish jig playfully interpolated into the melody. In "Hero," Galway matches Mariah Carey's stratospheric high notes, while "Candle in the Wind" is played with breezy cheer, dodging the dirgelike aura of the original. Perhaps Galway's greatest success here is in "The Prayer," where his phrasing is more chaste and aptly prayer-like than the song that's belted out by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli. It is a tribute to Galway and his colleagues that we rarely miss the star singers who made these tunes popular. Benjamin Ivry, Barnes & Noble