This work was written in 1988 at the request of the Grand Rapids Symphony and Chorus and, to date, is the most extensive of the arranger's Christmas carol settings.
The individual carols are laid out in 7 movements, to be played with brief intervening pauses:
1. Personent Hodie (Latin/all other movements entirely in English)
2. Deck the Halls
3. Lullaby Carols (Lully, Lullay and What Child Is This?)
4. Bell Carols (Ding, Dong Merrily On High and The Ukranian Bell Carol)
5. I Wonder as I Wander (Contralto solo with Chorus)
6. The Twelve Days of Christmas
7. Personent Hodie (abbreviated reprise) (Latin)
The first four movements of this piece have been commercially recorded by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra on their 1995 release This Is Christmas, Bonneville Classics # 9402-2. A complete recording of movement five, I Wonder As I Wander, appears on the Kodanja Records album A FEAST OF CAROLS, conducted by the composer.
(dur: 25:00). |
