2025 Christmas Concert - 7th December -
Oliver Lionel Bart (1930-1999)
Oliver was the first musical adaptation of a famous Charles Dickens work to become a stage hit though there had been television adaptations of A Christmas Carol. The plot of Dicken’s original novel is simplified for the purposes of the musical, with Fagin being represented more as a comic character than as a villain, and large portions of the latter part of the story being completely left out.
Picture is curtesy of Chichester Festival Theatre
CAROL:ONCE IN ROYAL DAVID’S CITY Henry John Gauntlett (1805-1876)
Words by Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895). Descant: Gauntlet
FARANDOLE from L’ARLESIENNE - Suite no 2 Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
The incidental music to Alphonse Daudet’s play, L’Arlesienne (the girl from Arles) included folk tunes as well as original folk-like melodies. Despite unfavourable reviews Bizet reworked the music as two suites for orchestra and in this form they have been played ever since. The last movement, the Farandole has two contrasting themes; the first, in a minor key, is a march theme adapted from a southern French folk song. The lively second theme, in the major, has the character of the farandole, a southern French dance.
A fIRESIDE CHRISTMAS sammy Nestico (1924-)
Another American, Sammy Nestico is known for his compositions and arrangements for big bands and particularily for his work with Count Basie. Here he puts together a sycopated arrangement of Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, I'll be home for Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, Winter Wonderland and the Christmas Song (better known as Chestnust roasting on an open fire).
A VAUGHAN WILLIAMS CHRISTMAS arr.Douglas E.Wagner(b.1952)
Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song; this influenced both his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, in which he included many folk song arrangements as hymn tunes, and several of his own original compositions. Here is a seasonal selection featuring Forest Green (O Little Town of Bethlehem), Wassail Song, and The Sussex Carol (On Christmas Night).
CANDLELIGHT CAROL (1984) John Rutter (b.1945)
The "Candlelight Carol" describes the Nativity of Jesus with the refrain;-Candlelight, angel light/ Firelight and starglow/ Shine on his cradle 'til breaking of dawn.
SALUTE TO BOB HOPE
arr. Warren Barker (1923-2006)
Warren Barker is well known as a composer and for his fine arrangements of Broadway musicals and Hollywood films. This arrangement includes The Road to Morocco, Moonlight Becomes You (both by Jimmy Van Heusen), Buttons and Bows (Jay Livingstone and Ray Evans), Two Sleepy People (Hoagy Carmichael) and Thanks for the Memory (Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger). Composer and arranger Warren Barker worked in film radio and television, in particular the comedy show “Bewitched”.
SLEIGH RIDE Leroy Anderson (1908-1975)
Leroy Anderson wrote Sleigh Ride in a July heat wave in 1946 and it was first performed in an orchestral arrangement in 1949. Words were added by Matthew Parish a year later. It is often quoted as being one of the most memorable Christmas melodies and is found on many Christmas compilation discs. There is no reference to Christmas to be found in the words and the mention of pumpkin pie in the last verse suggests that the piece may be describing an American Thanksgiving rather than the traditional view of Santa Claus and his reindeer. Nevertheless, there is a very festive feel due to the wonderful range of percussion instruments. Listen for the sleigh bells, horse shoes, the whip and the whinny.
LAST CHRISTMAS George Michael (1963-2016)
George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou) was an English singer-songwrite and record producer. The music of this hit reflects the words. Last Christmas I gave you my heart, But the very next day you gave it away. This year, to save me from tears, I'll give it to someone special… year, to save me
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A CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT arr. Jerry Nowak (1936-2015)
This is a secular medley including; It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, The Christmas Song, and We Need A Little Christmas and Sleigh Ride.
WALTZ NO.2 Shostakovich (1906-1975)
An eight-movement Suite by Shostakovich was misidentified and recorded as the second Jazz Suite. This work is now correctly known as the Suite for Variety Orchestra (post-1956), from which the "Waltz No. 2" was made famous by the soundtrack to Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, and which now seems irrevocably if, erroneously, associated with the Jazz Suite No. 2.
UKRAINIAN BELL CAROL Mykola Leontovych (1877-1921)
The melody for this carol, written in 1914 is taken from an Eastern European folk chant, known since the 20th century as ‘Shchedryk’. It was sung in the new year with original words about a little swallow who would bring prosperity. The English language lyrics were written in 1936 by American composer Peter Wilhousky about the bells ushering in Christmas.
CAROL: SILENT NIGHT Franz Xaver Gruber (1787-1863)
Composed in German in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr, it was first performed on Christmas Eve in 1818 in Austria. Translated into English in 1858, by 1914, 'Silent Night' was so familiar that, when German soldiers sang it in the World War 1 trenches, their British counterparts were able to respond in kind with the English version.
HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
The original hymn text was written as a "Hymn for Christmas-Day" by Charles Wesley, included in the 1739 collection of Hymns and Sacred songs. Descant: David Willcocks.
REGIMENTAL MARCH Doug Shewan
The Middlesex Yeomanry (Duke of Cambridge’s Hussars)Our Regimental March is based on an Old English tune dating from 1790 “The Lass of Richmond Hill” composed originally by James Hook with words by Leonard McNally in admiration of a young lady, Miss Janson, who lived on Richmond Hill in Yorkshire. With the name Richmond in the title, the late Doug Shewan, a gifted staff arranger, adapted and arranged this piece into a march adding a second theme, this can be heard sandwiched between renditions of the familiar melody.