Christmas Guitar Portraits: Christmas Favorites For Two Acoustic Guitars
The Christmas season has always been special to me. It is a season that has crystallized the hopes, aspirations and faith of millions of people through the centuries. The amount of music written for Christmas is monumental. For this recording I selected various genres dear to me. First, there are selections from the early American sacred song tradition. The Babe of Bethlehem , Cherry Tree Carol , A Star in the East , The Shepherd's Star , A Virgin Unspotted and I Wonder As I Wander all are from this rich heritage. I also picked a number of carols from the Old English genre. Away In The Manger , Green Grow'th the Holly and What Child is This are included. Then there are the Christmas favourites. In the Bleak Mid-winter and a medley of Baloo, Lammy ; The First Noel and Silent Night make any Christmas complete. Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence is one of my favourite Advent hymns. Gaudete, Christus est natus is a rousing carol dating back many centuries. Finally, I included two originals. Lullay, My Liking is an ancient carol text. Many composers over the centuries have written melodies to these lyrics, most notably Gustav Holst. I could not resist the temptation so the melody here is original. Finally, Christmas Prayer is a new composition written for this recording.
