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PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE - MORE HOLIDAY MUSIC
Having taken the old sled around the block and around the
country, Clarion is ready to load it up with more goodies
for another wild ride.
With our
first Holiday album, Nutcracker Suite Dreams, we asked the
question, “Who needs another Holiday recording?”
Apparently, more than a few did. It was quite the unexpected
pleasure to have most of the music first heard on NSD go on
to be performed by some of the best musicians across the country
from Los Angeles to New York. We must have been on to something.
The overwhelmingly positive response to that disc was the
inspiration to keep the reindeer harnessed up and fill the
sack again.
The Partridge
song represents the accumulation of a wealth of gifts, yet
the point of this Partridge recording is to give our true
love for music to you and yours. Our true love includes new
twists on more of your favorite tunes and some unusual songs
of the season which may be new to your ears.
As we
were out shopping for sounds to share with you, we thought
you might like a couple of glowing renditions of traditional
carols. But since brass can shine under so many different
lights and every gift should come as something of a surprise,
we also wrapped up some big band and latin sounds with some
orchestral textures and folk style, then tied on a bow with
the stained-glass colors from a cathedral.
Our hope
is that yet another Holiday album can become part of your
seasonal musical tradition and that it will bring you some
small amount of joy each time you hear it.
Here’s to celebrating the spirit of Christmas with the
attitude of brass,
-William
Berry
Deck the Hall 
16th century Welsh
Ríu
Ríu Chíu
16th century Spanish
Bring
a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella
17th century Provence
The
Holy Baby
American folk tune, collected by John A. Lomax, 1942
Christmas
Morning
William Berry, 2004
O
Come, O Come Emmanuel
Thomas Helmore & John Mason Neale, 1854
probably based on a 12th century chant
Du
Grønne, Glitrende Tre, God-Dag
[You Green and Glittering Tree, Good Day]
C.E.F. Weyse & Johan Krohn, 20th century Danish
Rockin’
Around the Christmas Tree
Johnny Marks, 1958
Copyright St. Nicholas Music, Inc.
A
Partridge in a Pear Tree
17th century English or French
Canzone
d’i Zampognari
[Carol of the Bagpipers]
17th century Sicilian
Do
You Hear What I Hear?
Noel Regney & Gloria Shayne, 1962
Copyright Jewel Music Publishing Co., Inc.
On
That Night In Bethlehem
Traditional Irish
King
Swing
13th century Provence
In
the Bleak Midwinter
Gustav Holst & Christina Rossetti, 1906
Tomorrow
Shall Be My Dancing Day
16th century Cornwall
It
has been Clarion’s tradition to cast a wide net for
unusual Holiday material and to present these lesser known
tunes in more traditional renditions; on the other hand, our
approach to the more familiar carols has been to, er, ah,
take some liberties.
Deck the
Hall and The Twelve Days of Christmas may be the most familiar
fare on this recording, and for that reason are flung farther
afield. If you require a traditional fix on either of these,
there are any number of other places to turn. We, however,
are all about new. In its original form, The 12 Days is mind-numbingly
repetitive, and lost its charm for me about the time I stopped
wearing knee-pants. The threat to pull it out as retribution
upon those who insist that every Holiday concert have a sing-along
became a running joke: “. . . now the right side! Seven
swans a-swimming!” Nevertheless, with our twelfth anniversary
of concertizing looming, the numerological significance outweighed
its inherent banality, offering up a fitting challenge to
maintain interest over the course of the carol. Thus, kitchen
sinkification. Good luck hearing it all. And I hope a few
off-the-wall references in Deck the Hall will give you something
upon which to muse during the falalalalas.
We also
offer warm wishes that some of our back-of-the-shelf spices
lend variety to your treeside mulling. Canzone d’i zampognari
— the Carol of the Bagpipers — is heard less often
as a lullaby than as lifted by Handel for a bucolic moment
in his Messiah, so deserves a fresh reading. Tomorrow Shall
Be My Dancing Day and The Holy Baby are actually more than
Christmas songs. The former spins out a skillion verses describing
the entire life of Christ, but begins with several verses
about the birth, so makes the Christmas cut. The latter is
a tune which counts its way up to 12 for the 12 disciples,
ending each time with one for the Holy Baby born in Bethlehem,
bringing the focus back to the manger scene. King Swing, underneath
new trappings of improvisation and fugue, remains The March
of the Kings, probably the most ancient carol still sung in
its original form.
And thank
you, listeners, for humoring me with the opportunity to include
a new piece among these classics. Christmas Morning is a bit
of musical painting depicting the growing wonder of dawn,
brightening to a dance of pure joy in celebration of the day.
I am grateful for the musicians whose talents have brought
my sonic dreams to life. It takes people of substantial talent
and commitment to get the music out of my head into the ether.
And I extend my gratitude to you who listen — the Christmas
tree falling in the forest can make no joyful noise if there
is no one there to hear it. – WB
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