"Suite of Carols for Woodwind Ensemble" by Leroy Anderson
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Composition: "Suite of Carols for Woodwind Ensemble" Composer: Leroy Anderson Completed: September 1955, Woodbury, Connecticut Instrumentation: Woodwind Ensemble Structure: Suite First Performed: September 27, 1955 ; Leroy Anderson, conductor; Decca recording session, New York, NY First Recorded: September 27, 1955 ; Leroy Anderson, conductor; Decca recording session (stereo), New York, NY
Suite of Carols for Woodwind Ensemble 1955 (11:03)
II. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear - Music: Richard Storrs Willis
III. O Little Town of Bethlehem - Music: Lewis Redner /li>
IV. Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabelle - Traditional French Carol
V. Away in a Manger - Music: James Ramsey Murray
VI. Wassail Song - Traditional Englsih Carol
Recordings in Chronological Order:
"A Leroy Anderson Christmas" (Decca); Recorded in 1959 for Decca Records by Leroy Anderson conducting a studio orchestra in New York, New York.
"Leroy Anderson: Complete Works" (Naxos); Recorded in 2007 for Naxos Records by Leonard Slatkin conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra at Watford Colosseum in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, U.K.
Leroy Anderson's Suites of Carols highlight the countermelodies and counterpoint of the songs which are less apparent in vocal performances.
Composer quote:
"I had the idea of making a more intimate treatment of other Christmas carols; at the same time, however, I didn't just want to make medleys of them, that's the usual thing.
In treating them instrumentally, I thought I'd try to get something that would give a little more scope and be a little different.
So, after thinking it over, I decided that I would make a suite of carols. Except that the one suite turned out to be three suites because of the fact that carols have a great deal of variety.
It seemed that one particular carol would sound best with string orchestra, and another one would sound much better with a brass choir, and another would call for the color that you get from woodwinds;
I finally finished by writing three suites of carols, three different ones; one is for string orchestra, one for brass choir, and one for woodwind ensemble. I took about 18 or 19 of these carols and divided them up and made them into the three suites."
(six carols, 11:03)
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