Virginia Bronze Community Handbell Ensemble - Carols of the Bells

Reviews from composers: I just finished listening to the Season of Miracles track. I LOVE IT!! What you guys did with the piece is fantastic, what can I say. I am so pleased! Thank you so much for adding all the small touches here and there to make the piece and the recording what it is! We are partners in this project for sure. - Andrew Bleckner, composer of Season of Miracles: Meditation and Dance Wow. An incredible recording all around. Thanks so very much. I'm so glad to get to hear the Doxology again; have not heard it - obviously! - since the AGO conference. And it's great to hear some new tunes I have yet to meet. The variety is terrific - and So Well Played. I love it! - Hart Morris, composer of Doxology on 'Conditor alme siderum' ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carols of the Bells CD Insert 1. Wake, Awake (Wachet Auf) by J.S. Bach arranged by Anna Laura Page Choristers Guild, ©2012 The Lutheran hymn "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stumme" ("Awake, the voice is calling") is based on the parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13). Composed by Philipp Nicolai, it was first published in 1599 and subsequently in English translation as "Wake, Awake, for the Night Is Flying." Nicolai wrote during the time of the plague saying, "Day by day I wrote out my medians...to comfort other sufferers...with the pestilence." The hymn is the foundation of Bach's cantata by the same name (BWV 140) first performed in Leipzig, Germany, in 1731. "Wake, Awake" is considered by the Christian community as the iconic Advent hymn, instructing the listener to "Keep watch, the voice is calling!' 2. Dreamscape on 'Still, Still, Still' Traditional Austrian carol arranged by Brian Childers Alfred Publishing, ©2012 Katie Budris, Flute "Still, Still, Still", a traditional Austrian Christmas carol and lullaby, originally appeared in an 1865 folksong collection. The first line "Still, still still, weil's Kindlier schlafen will!" translates to "Hush, hush, hush, for the little child wants to sleep!" The arranger, Brian Childers, conducts the "Queen City Ringers," a community handbell group in Charlotte, NC. Virginia Bronze ringer, Katie Budris, provides the flute accompaniment. 3. Ukrainian Carol of the Bells by Mykola Leontovich arranged by Nicholas A. Hanson Jeffers Publications, ©2014 In 1904, Mykola Leontovich, a Ukrainian composer, conductor and priest, wrote the original tune Shchedryk, known to the English speaking world as "Carol of the Bells." Western audiences were introduced to it by the Ukrainian National Chorus on October 5, 1912 at Carnegie Hall. The tune is famous for it's four-note ostinato, a phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice. Virginia Bronze Assistant to the Conductor, Nick Hanson, created this arrangement for the 2012-2013 Potomac Upper School Handbell Ensemble in McLean, VA, one of the four handbell ensembles that he directs at Potomac School. 4. What Is This Lovely Fragrance? Traditional French Carol arranged by Fred Gramann AGEHR Publishing, ©2013 This tune comes from a 17th-century French carol of the Nativity of the Christ. John Gay, an English poet and dramatist, used the song in his ballad-opera, The Beggar's Opera, adding folk-style lyrics calling the shepherds to the manger. This arrangement by the master composer, Fred Gramann, opens with a mysterious sound reminiscent of the music made by singing bowls in a Tibetan monastery, and then grows in intensity as the carol comes to life and sparkles with the joy of the season. 5. I Wonder as I Wander Appalachian folk tune arranged by Cathy Moklebust Choristers Guild, ©2012 This Christian folk hymn, written by American folklorist and singer John Jacob Niles, is most often performed as a Christmas carol. It's origins are found in a song fragment collected by Niles on July 16, 1933 while attending an evangelical meeting in the town of Murphy in Appalachian North Carolina. A forlorn, ragged girl named Annie Morgan stepped onto an impromptu stage and began to sing a simple melody. Annie repeated the tune seven times, receiving a quarter for each performance. Niles left with "...three lines of verse, a garbled fragment of melodic material and a magnificent idea." 6. Season of Miracles: Meditation and Dance by Andrew Bleckner Commissioned by Virginia Bronze World Premiere December 15, 2013 Unpublished Andrew Bleckner, a Philadelphia composer, describes the symbolism of his composition this way: "There are two primary aspects of Chanukah that resonate with me most (pun intended!), and they correspond with the two sections of this new work for bell choir. The first is that Chanukah marks a time or season of spiritual renewal and reconnection with the divine. The opening Meditation represents a musical calling to open ourselves to a higher, more universal connection with the world. The second aspect of the holiday is that it is a time for joy and celebration, and this is embodied in the second section of the work, subtitled Dance.' 7. 'Danse Arabe' from the Nutcracker Suite by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky transcribed by William H. Griffin Beckenhorst Press, ©1997 "Danse Arabe" or "Arabian Dance" comes from the 1892 two-act ballet "The Nutcracker Suite" by the Russian composer, Tchaikovsky. "Danse Arabe" occurs in Act II when the two main characters, the child, Clara, and the magically animated nutcracker prince, return to the Sugar Plum Fairy Queen's castle during a Yuletide ball. The Sugar Plum Fairy honors her guests with sweets from around the world, each accompanied by characteristic music. Listen for the unique Arabian mystique recreated in this handbell arrangement. 8. Up On the Housetop by Benjamin R. Hanby arranged by Arnold B. Sherman, ASCAP Hope Publishing, ©1998 Little is known of composer Benjamin R. Hanby beyond his place of birth (Ohio), the dates he lived (1833-1867), and the fact that he composed what was probably the first secular Christmas song in American history with "Up on the Housetop." When he wrote it is a mystery - most guesses place it sometime in the 1850s or 1860s - and it remains one of the most popular Christmas songs for young children. It probably owes it's inspiration to the Clement Clarke Moore poem, "A Visit from Saint Nicholas," or, as it is most popularly known, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." The music box and drumming effects are "text painting," based on stanzas three and four of the song, about filling the stockings of Little Nell and Little Bill. 9. A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Guaraldi arranged by Kevin McChesney Alfred Publishing, ©1996 A Charlie Brown Christmas, which premiered on December 9, 1965, was the first prime-time animated TV special based on the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. Although producers initially thought the jazz soundtrack by Guaraldi would not work well for a children's program, fifty percent of US televisions were tuned to that first broadcast, and, as of November 2013, A Charlie Brown Christmas was the tenth bestselling Christmas/holiday album in the US with 3,295,000 copies sold since 1991. The Library of Congress added the album to it's National Recording Registry list of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important" American sound recordings in 2012. You will hear Guaraldi's original tunes "Christmas Time is Here,' "Skating" and "Linus and Lucy" along with the traditional carol "O Tannenbaum" in this arrangement. 10. The Rising Moon by Paul Sullivan transcribed and arranged by Carol Feather Martin Published for piano, River Music, ©1990 Carol Feather Martin first heard "The Rising Moon" as a piano solo on a Paul Winter Concert CD and realized that the work could effectively be transcribed for handbells. With the composer's permission, she created this arrangement, which has become a favorite of Virginia Bronze. Paul Sullivan found inspiration for this beautiful song from his home on the coast of Maine: "'The Rising Moon' was written abou