Leroy Anderson Sleigh Ride & Other Holiday Favorites (CD)

Description: Further DetailsTitle: Sleigh Ride & Other Holiday FavoritesCondition: NewFormat: CDDescription: EDITORIAL REVIEWS This very special collection of Leroy Anderson's holiday music was put together with the help and support of Leroy's son Kurt Anderson as well as conductor Leonard Slatkin. REVIEW As far as Christmas music goes, you'll find it hard to beat this new release from Naxos featuring some of the world's best-loved holiday classics by Leroy Anderson. -- Classical Lost and Found, Bob McQuiston, November 2008 Leonard Slatkin is an unqualified expert in this repertoire, and he leads his British orchestra with consummately entertaining style, all of it most favorably recorded...Highly recommended -- ClassicsToday.com, David Vernier, November 2008 Leroy Anderson: "Sleigh Bell & Other Holiday Favorites"BBC Concert Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin, cond. (Naxos) FOUR STARS Massachusetts native Leroy Anderson (1908-75) was a top composer of "light" orchestral music, spinning ditties into virtuosic crowd-pleasers for the likes of the Boston Pops. Naxos has embarked on an extensive Anderson edition, in league with the composer's estate. As a sidelight, the label has added this budget-priced compilation of his Christmas tunes and arrangements led by conductor Leonard Slatkin, an Anderson booster. Anderson's holiday pieces are the epitome of quality craftsmanship -- beautifully orchestrated so that they are fun to play, which always helps to make music fun to hear. Written in the late '40s, "Sleigh Ride" is Anderson's hit Christmas tune, which one would have to live at the South Pole not to know. But there are also several of his irresistible suites of Christmas carols, as well as his "Christmas Festival" overture (which weaves favorite carols together with "Jingle Bells"). Slatkin and the BBC Concert Orchestra treat the music with equal parts spirit and respect, bringing out Anderson's many subtleties. The brass playing is exceptionally beautiful, with the long melodies shining like tinsel in the Suite of Carols for Brass Choir. Although Anderson's holiday music is redolent of an older, more innocent America, it's never cloying. Even those who can't abide Christmas songs may find themselves charmed by this instrumental disc. The CD booklet features an interview with Anderson from the early '60s on the special value of music at Christmas; he points out that music helps realize the emotional richness of the holiday, as it offers "a variety of expression that you can't get with just decoration." -- The Star-Ledger, Bradley Bambarger, December 8, 2008 What memories make Christmastime special for you? A tree bursting with twinkling lights, or a special dish like rice pudding, perhaps? For most of us, music is what makes the season most personal. It offers a variety of expression that goes beyond the decorations, and it goes great with the holiday menu. American composer Leroy Anderson proved that point over and over again by writing seasonal music that's now part of the Christmas tradition for many of us. In honor of the 100th anniversary of Leroy Anderson's birth this past year, conductor Leonard Slatkin recorded all of Anderson's compositions with the BBC Concert Orchestra. The final release in this series is filled with holiday favorites, starting off with his classic "Sleigh Ride." Leroy Anderson was born in June, and this familiar piece with the clip-clopping horses pulling the sleigh was written during a summer heat wave. In fact, all the winter pieces Leroy Anderson wrote were conceived on hot summer days. That's because Christmas recordings had to be finished in July so the record distributors would have them by Oct. 1. This performance of "Sleigh Ride" with the BBC Concert Orchestra is full of smiles and all the equestrian sound effects we've come to expect in this light-hearted winter gem. You won't be disappointed in the BBC Concert Orchestra's performance of Anderson's "Christmas Festival Overture," either. Anderson wrote this work at the request of Arthur Fiedler, who wanted the Boston Pops to record a special concert number using Christmas songs. Rather than simply creating a medley, Anderson built an overture around these well-known melodies. The bold brass and the carefree wind section whisk us away to a winter wonderland filled with familiar carols. Anderson's music had a playful side, which we hear in the vivid sound effects he used in popular pieces like "The Typewriter" and "Sleigh Ride." Then there's the more contemplative side, which is represented on this recording in carols like "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." Here, the wind section gently rolls into this hymn, making way for haunting solos by the English horn and the oboe. The flute section takes center stage in Anderson's arrangement of "Patapan." I love how this short little piece builds as the wind sections develop a fascinating fugue. A delicate "Suite of Carols for String Orchestra" closes out this new holiday recording. It sounds like Leroy Anderson channeled British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams when he wrote this lush string arrangement. Music helps capture the memories that make Christmastime so special. Leonard Slatkin and the BBC Concert Orchestra have wrapped up some of these memories with a big red bow on this new collection of holiday favorites from an American composer whose music has become part and parcel of our popular culture. -- Minnesota.PublicRadio.org, Julie Amacher, December 9, 2008 FROM THE ARTIST Leroy Anderson on Christmas and Christmas Music: Christmas music is special because of the fact that Christmas is special; such and important religious holiday; so naturally anything associated with it has a special place in our lives and, of course, music even more so because music has the most special and the most personal place in our lives . . . there is a variety of expression at Christmas that you can't get with just decoration, you can't get with just a spoken word, because music has a wider range of expression. See moreGenre: ClassicalArtist: Leroy AndersonNo Of Discs: 1Country/Region of Manufacture: USARecord Label: Naxos American ClassicsLanguage: EnglishEAN: 0636943962121 Missing Information?Please contact us if any details are missing and where possible we will add the information to our listing.

Price: 27.14 USD

Location: 60502

End Time: 2024-12-12T02:38:08.000Z

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