'Tis the season of peace, cheer and goodwill to all men. The snow is sparkling on the ground, and throughout Northern climes, harpists are leaving for their gigs two hours earlier then normal and praying the car doesn't pack up. I wish you all well-gritted roads, joyously festive concerts and very happy holidays.
Whatever logistics the weather may throw at us, wherever you may be, Christmas is a time for music, and harpists around the world have been telling me about their favourite Christmas music.
"Perhaps not limited to Christmas, but I love 'Le Sommeil de l'Enfant Jesus'
('The Sleep of the Baby Jesus') by Henri Busser. It is beautifully
written for the harp, and can be done with voice and harp, harp, violin
and organ, or harp and organ. there are separate arrangements for each
of the above combinations. My personal favorite is with voice for the
words are so lovely.Then, for me, it is not Christmas until I play the arrangement
Linda Rollo and I did of 'Silent Night' in our three volumes of Christmas
arrangements for the harp. I love to play it and am always a little
sad when Dec. 26th arrives and I put it away for another year. I also
love 'O Holy Night'and 'O Little Town of Bethlehem', also in those
collections.With every good wish for a wonderful and blessed Christmas to all!"
"Mine is 'Over the Rainbow' with Judy Garland. It reminds me of Christmas at home, when my parents lived it up in the living room and I watched 'The Wizard of Oz' on television in the kitchen. I was finally allowed to watch TV in the evenings and this film has now practically become part of me. I think I know it by heart, I watched it so much! Especially with my child's eyes...I looooooooove the scarecrow!"
You can hear Isabelle's recording of 'Over the Rainbow' with Dame Felicity Lott on their new CD, Cantare!
"Working on my Christmas album 'The Gift' was one of the most creative
projects I ever did. I searched for songs from all over the world, and
found some beautiful ones, but what surprised me most was how much I
loved arranging them, finding new ways to enjoy them – especially the
ones Ithought I knew so well!
"I was finding ways of playing them I'd never thought of – and it
became more and more intriguing. Finally I said to myself, 'What's the
Christmas song you're most sick of hearing? Could you make an
arrangement that would change how you feel about it?" It became a
challenge! I chose 'O Tannenbaum,' spent hours reharmonizing it -- and
completely fell in love with it! That experience gaveme
a gift! The gift of realizing that, by making a song my own, by
investing myself in it, it can become deeply meaningful to me, no
matter how I felt about it before. That was a wonderful gift!"
"I wish I could have been the harpist on Bing Crosby's recording of 'White Christmas'. Whoever it was obviously had a great technique and a fantastic sound!"
My favorite Christmas music is the Messiah of Handel. No harp, but to sing it is a true joy in life! Playing Christmas music is but a memory for me since I went to Israel in 1963 and all of my Lutheran childhood was put on hold. Two other young harpists and myself, all belonging to the same church, played the Salzedo arrangement of 'Silent Night' at the midnight service when we were just kids - we even had to wing it once when the lights were all turned off leaving the congregation holding candles. Chilling but very effective.
My favorite moment of Christmas music will be at home on Christmas Eve when my daughter Tali will play 'O Holy Night' on my harp, accompanying my dramatic soprano daughter, Danna, within the intimacy of our family. I may even step in and play a verse or two.I vote with Jakez for 'White Christmas' for music on the lighter side."
"I guess it's pretty predictable, but my favourite Christmas music has
to be 'The Nutcracker'. We played it so
many times that as soon as I see the Christmas market being put up
outside the Opera I start dreaming about the cadenza.I've played up to about ten a year over the last ten years (about sixty altogether) and only messed up the cadenza once by being so
proud of how much I enjoyed playing it and how even all the runs
sounded, I forgot to change the G pedal for the penultimate chord....
OOPS! So much for Vorfreude."
"For me, Christmas music is very much connected with children's voices. If I hear a boy soprano singing old Gregorian music, I just love it. The ancient music, performed by a child gives a sober, true and timeless feeling.
"I like all Christmas music! In 2009, my favourite carol is "Have yourself a merry little Christmas", arranged by Skaila Kanga. My Christmas present for my friends is a CD with this song played by me...
In teaching, over the last few weeks, "Deck the Halls" is the only one I'm NOT tired of!"
"My all time favorite Hanukah song is 'Ocho Kandelikas'. Written by Flory Jagoda who is a Bosnian Sephardic Jew, the words are in Ladino. It is a very simple tune with lots of opportunities for big splashy arpeggios. I play it all year since it is not so well known and I teach it in one of my workshops. It is just so fun to play.
I also have a favorite Christmas carol, "In the Bleak Midwinter". It is such a warm and smooth melody. I'll play it for a Holiday party at the American School this weekend."
"I think it would have to be 'Sleigh Ride' by Leroy Anderson. I have a CD by a Dutch singer (Miranda van Kralingen) who sings with the Matangi
Quartet, and they play such a fun arrangement. When I hear it, I wish I
had a sleigh with reindeer to drive me through the snow!"
"Christmas music in Serbia is very connected with Orthodox spiritual
music. It is performed a capella, following the idea of the pure sound of the human
voice bringing us closer to God.
To give you an idea, this beautiful prayer is full of tenderness and love."
Staše Mirković Grujić
Personally, it is just as well I like Christmas, because I used to work in the Thursford Christmas Spectacular show band and there it's Christmas every day from early October. After I retired from playing 'Jingle Bell Rock' eighty times a year, I found myself jolting down a mulchy lane, to play 'A Ceremony Of Carols' in a small church in the English countryside.
Every time, in each chilly church, this great music seems richer and
more moving. The plainsong opening conjures not only the real
choirboys from the back of the church, but all those choristers before
them and the ones to come, in granite Northern monasteries, and hidden
saxon chapels. Then come the ancient texts: the childlike excitement
of 'Wolcum Yole'; 'There is No Rose''s sophisticated evocation of the
mysteries of the Nativity; 'That Yonge Child''s hoarse nightingale and Mary's enchanting 'Balulalow' lullaby.These texts evoke the hope and joy and innocence at the root of this work, and of Christmas. Whether or not you are religious, these questions are universal. Middle English poetry is not afraid
of spiritual difficulty. It openly feels
the complexities of doctrine, the difficulties of reconciling
real and spiritual life, the shifting relationship between art and
religion. Whether secular or sacred, there are no tidy conclusions. In place of a neat end comes mystery,
wonder, faith. Leave we all this werdly mirth, and follow we this joyful birth. / Transeamus, transeamus.
And there we have it, in Britten's music. As multifaceted as his
texts, it understands the contradictions in the winter night - freezing, yet with a wonder
therein. The marvellous babe turns the icy stable into a "prince's
court" simply by existing. There is no other reason. We don'thave always to understand. Here, we can marvel instead: at
beauty and wholeness, at innocence. It must exist in this world too,
or we wouldn't feel it, and we wouldn't come back to it, year after
year, to conclude each year.Res miranda, res miranda/ Gaudeamus, gaudeamus.
