List Price: £5.99 Price: £4.98 You save: £1.01 (16%)
Media: Audio CD Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Editorial Review:
This new recording on the Naxos label makes a pleasant change from the usual seasonal compilations of hymns or pop songs. It takes its name from the most substantial work on the disc--Victor Hely-Hutchinson's A Carol Symphony--which is complemented with three other symphonic pieces based on Christmas music.
First up is Bryan Kelly's Improvisations on Christmas Carols, a five-movement work based on well-known tunes such as "Past three o'clock" and "I saw three ships". Hely-Hutchinson's work follows. It is symphonic in structure and based on popular carols too, the highlight being the slow third movement where the spine-tingling "Coventry Carol" melts into a magical arrangement of "The First Nowell".
Arrangements by Philip Lane of Warlock and traditional English wassails break up the carolling before Patric Standford's A Christmas Carol Symphony rounds off the disc. It's rousing opening movement combines three jolly carols--"Deck the Halls", "Ding dong merrily on high" and "God rest ye merry gentlemen"--before "Away in a manger" takes over for the second. The grand finale brings together a myriad of carols and songs--I counted nine, but there could be more. --Rebecca Agnew
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
When Slade, Wizzard and Bing simply won't do anymore... If you’re seeking a quieter, more restful and (dare I say) traditional form of Christmas Spirit than you’re getting from Slade, Wizzard and Phil Spector, then here’s something very beautiful: a collection of classical, orchestral pieces all themed around the Yuletide season. Victor Hely-Hutchinson’s splendid Carol Symphony (the third movement of which achieved greater fame in the 1980s as the creepy-but-festive theme to the BBC series “The Box Of Delights”) appears... more info
Tracks:
Allegro (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen)
Andante Non Troppo
Slowly (Past Three O' Clock)
Moderato (I Saw Three Ships)
Allegro (Ding Dong Merrily On High/Unto Us A Boy Is Born)
Allegro Energico (Adeste Fideles)
Scherzo: Allegro Molto Moderato (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen)
Andante Quasi Lento E Cantabile (The Conventry Carol/The First Nowell)
Allegro Energico Come Prima (Here We Come A-Wassailing/Adeste Fideles)
Bethlehem Down (A Carol For Strings)
Vivace (Somerset Wassail)
Andantino (Yorkshire Wassail)
Vivace (Gloucestershire Wassail)
Vivace (Deck The Halls/Ding Dong Merrily On High/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen)
Andante Tranquillo (Away In A Manger/Es Ist Ein Ros' Entsprungen)
Allegretto (Past Three O' Clock/Now The Holly And The Ivy)
