PRICE:
$15.50
IN STOCK
ARTIST
TITLE
Merry Christmas - Traditional and New Christmas Music
FORMAT
CD

LABEL
CATALOG #
NEOS 90902CD NEOS 90902CD
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
7/2/2013

2010 release. Includes music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Peter Warlock, Johann Pachelbel, Arcangelo Corelli, Earl J. Reisdorff, and more. In early 2008, when I decided to create a Christmas album for the benefit of SOS Children's Villages, I had no idea how much wonderful support the project would receive. Nor did I realise what a challenge this CD would be for everyone involved. More than once the venture threatened to collapse. Today I am all the more grateful to be able to present a Christmas album that is surely as exciting as it is varied -- an album that spans the traditional and modern Christmas repertoires, including four world premiere recordings and another of the famous carol "Silent Night" that recalls the original Alpine version composed by Franz Xaver Gruber in 1818. Another central work on this album is the carol "O du fröhliche," originally a Sicilian fisherman's song arranged by Johannes Falk in 1816 as a Christmas carol for orphans. I owe a debt of thanks to all the musicians who worked free of charge to rehearse the pieces and to record them in a four-day studio session. I also wish to thank the Soloists of the Tölzer Knabenchor and their director Ralf Ludewig, the harpsichord player Marga Scheurich-Henschel, the double bass player Frank Reinecke and, of course, my fellow quartet members Christoph Henschel, Markus Henschel, and Mathias Beyer-Karlshøj. Franz Beyer merits my gratitude for providing the requisite arrangements. It is only through the release of this CD by NEOS Music GmbH that the great commitment of everyone involved has become meaningful. My final and special thanks therefore go to producer Wulf Weinmann and all the employees at NEOS. I hope that this Christmas album will do its part to support the invaluable and successful work of SOS Children's Villages.