A Festival of Christmas CD

A Festival of Christmas - Holiday Favorites is one of my favorite Christmas CDs. It's a collection of songs and artists in a fold-out cardboard container. When the container is fully unfolded, the inner area describes each song in detail.

You learn, for example, that The First Noel dates back to the middle ages, as does God Rest You Merry Gentlemen. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing is more recent, from 1840. It's fun to learn about the history and background of the various songs we associate with Christmas.

The songs are done by The Gregg Smith Singers along with The Adirondack Chamber Players and the Fort Worth Chamber Ensemble. The song list is:

Joy to the World / Away in the Manger - Rosalind Rees
Carol of the Bells / Deck the Halls / O Tannenbaum - Samanta Genton / Linda Eckard
The First Noel / O Come All Ye Faithful - many singers
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear / Lo How a Rose E'Er Blooming / Gerard Reuter
Hark the Herald Angels Sing / O Little Town of Bethlehem - many singers
Angels We have Heard on High / Silent Night - Margery Daley, Rosalind Rees
We Wish you a Merry Christmas / The Holly and the Ivy - many singers
I Saw Three Ships - David Frye / Margery Daley
God Rest You Merry Gentlemen
Veni Veni Emmanuel / The Coventry Carol / In Dulci Jubilo - many singers
Now it is Yule Again / Greensleeves / Wassail Song / Little Fantasia on English Carols / The Twelve Days of Christmas
A Toast to Christmas / The Bora's Head Carol / Jingle Bells / We wish you a merry Christmas - Ron Hilley

The voices are rich and full, and I love how the medleys intertwine. The harmonies are lush and simply wonderful to listen to.

I love how the book gives insight into how the songs were put together. For example, on medley #2, with Carol of the Bells, the liner notes explain: "This group begins with a bell choir solo, the famous Ukrainian Carol of the Bells, in one of the three settings on this recording not by myself. This setting is by Glenn Shields Daun and was written especially for hand bell choir performance. After an a capella rendition of Deck the Halls, pianist Oresta Cybriwsky provides piano interludes with the Ukrainian carol's melodic motive. Following the unaccompanied German carol O Tannenbaum, Patapan picks up the piano motive as an accompanying figure to the voices and bells." The information is great! One rarely gets this kind of detail about the music they are listening to.

Highly recommended.



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