Solid Brass Christmas - Solid Brass

A Solid Brass Christmas liner notes

The booming brasses have come up in the musical world since the days when their function was almost purely ceremonial and military, and their increasing technical sophistication over the centuries has led them to become capable of holding their own as interpretive instruments. If you like traditional Christmas carols (the very word carol suggests Christmas even though the form dates back to prehistoric pagan celebrations of the winter solstice) there is a 20-minute international tour of them in store for you here. The instruments take up unique arrangements of carols familiar and unfamiliar from France, Germany, and England, as well as a colorful suite of carols dating from medieval times. During the course of this musical tour you can hear the brasses resounding to "Silent Night," "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "In dulci jubilo," "The First Nowell," and "Deck the Halls," along with such selections as "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," "Ding Dong Merrily on High," and the Coventry Carol. And from Spain comes the Catalan Christmas folksong "Song of the Birds."