Harp Christmas

 Harp Christmas

Cecily Beer says, ‘This new music from Thomas Hewitt-Jones has been the biggest joy to learn and record. We had both agreed we wanted something that sparkled but with familiar melodies which people know and love. For me, the upbeat tracks, Sussex Carol and Bell Carol, are exactly what I want to be listening to while dancing around my kitchen making Christmas lunch; while the final track, Silent Night, has the perfect balance of joy that comes with this sublime new string arrangement, and nostalgia for a melody we all know and love so well.’

Sussex Carol

A rippling harp introduces the famous Christmas tune with a ‘spinning wheel’ of broken chords with forward motion and delicate emotion. The intensity builds with interplay between harp soloist and strings during thematic development which propels the piece towards a satisfying conclusion.

Silent Night

This slow, reflective setting features a rippling version of the melody in the harp underpinned by warm, expressive strings. As the track unfolds a relaxed calmness expands to a quietly emotional feel as we modulate up a tone, leading us gently yet optimistically forward as we approach Christmas.

Bell Carol

The melody of Bell Carol comes from the song “Shchedryk” written by the Ukrainian composer Mylola Leontovych in 1914. We hope this new arrangement for harp and strings can be enjoyed by a wide audience during this challenging time globally.

Harp Twins Give us Nordic Nights 

A magical duet harp and vocal album of Christmas songs: Nordic Celtic originals and stunning new arrangements of timeless classics! Every track on Nordic Nights has its own unique flair. Combining harps, voices, and a fair bit of Christmas magic, Nordic Nights will be the perfect soundtrack for your Holiday season for years to come!

https://www.harptwins.com/product-page/nordic-nights-cd-autographed

Christmas has always been a source of inspiration for musicians, and this harp album contains many Christmas pieces and famous melodies. Robert Nicolas Charles Bochsa (1789-1856) wrote much harp music, including his fantasy on "Adeste fideles." 

Joseph Mazzinghi's (1765-1844) "Andante" from Sonata Op.30 No.3 consists of a series of variations on the melody that almost a century later would become the famous song "Deck the Halls." Charles Oberthür's (1845-1924) "Virgo Maria" is based on the ancient Marian hymn "O Sanctissima." Edmund Schüecker's (1860-1911) "Weihnachtslied" is not inspired by any traditional Christmas melody. 

Dutch composer Johannes Snoer's (1868-1936) Phantasia combines the two themes of the Christmas carols "Stille Nacht" and "Es ist ein' Ros' entsprungen." In France, Alphonse Hasselmans (1845-1912) was the most important harp tutor at the Paris Conservatory, teaching Tournier, Renié, Grandjany and Salzedo. Rather than depicting a light-hearted holiday scene, Hasslemans' Conte de Noël evokes Christmas ghost tales. Marcel Tournier (1879-1951) succeeded Hasselmans at the Paris Conservatory. Tournier's two pieces here are from his four volumes of Images. "Les enfants" expresses children's joy watching the nativity scene, and Cloches evokes the sound of bells under the snow. Hasselmans' first choice for his replacement was, however, not Tournier, but Henriette Renié (1875-1956), perhaps the most important female harp music composer. The melancholic Conte de Noël opens her collection of Six Pièces brèves. 

Marcel Grandjany (1891-1975) composed many pieces that remain part of study and concert programs for the harp, and his version of "Stille Nacht" here contrasts with Snoer's version. Marcel Samuel-Rousseau's (1882-1955) Variations Pastorales are inspired by an old French popular carol. Carlos Salzedo's (1885-1961) compositions for harp were innovative: he invented and described several of the effects that are still used in contemporary harp music.

Harpist Harriet Adie puts out Christmas Album

Christmastide is a collection of traditional Christmas carols which I have arranged for solo pedal harp.

Also, Sheet Music is available at https://harrietadie.com/christmastide

Recorded by world-renowned harpist Sylvia Woods, these lovely Christmas carols are performed on three special harps: a nylon-strung Neo-Celtic harp, a wire-strung ancient Celtic harp, and a triple-strung harp. Each carol is performed by Sylvia on 1, 2, or 3 harps, with no other accompaniment. This volume (#1) contains 28 traditional carols.

1 Medley: Anglican Hymn/Twelfth Night Song
2 Medley: Coventry Carol/While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks/The First Noel
3 Medley: Lo How a Rose/O Sanctissima
4 Medley: I Saw Three Ships/Chirst Was Born/Glouchestershire Wassail
5 Medley: Angels We Have Heard on High/Ding Dong Merrily on High
6 Medley: Oxen and Sheep/O Come Emmanuel
7 Medley: Up on the House Top/Jingle Bells/We Wish You a Merry Christmas
8 Medley: Away in a Manger/O Come Little Children
9 Medley: Hark! the Herald Angels Sing/O Come All Ye Faithful/Joy to the World
10 Medley: He Is Born/Bring a Torch, Jeannette Isabella
11 Silent Night
12 What Child Is This?
13 Medley: Twelve Days of Christmas/Deck the Halls

Megha Morganfield's Winter Solstice Carols The Winter Solstice Carols are a collection of 15 holiday songs celebrating the return of the light and hope, renewed for peace and community. Inspired by Mary Daly's book 'Gyn/Ecology', Morganfield rewrote 12 tradition carols, retaining their melodies, but enlivening them with universal transcendent messages. Three of the pieces on this CD are Megha's original works... A collaborative production, the Winter Solstice Carols is a recording with harp, guitar, piano, violin and voice.

Christmas Harp


Xavier de Maistre (Artist)

The sound of the harp, one of the oldest musical instruments in the world, has always been associated with that of other worlds and of heavenly spheres, long assuring it a place in the list of instruments that are used to perform Christmas music.

This explains why Xavier de Maistre has called his new solo album Christmas Harp and selected pieces from various areas of the repertory extending from large-scale orchestral works to famous Christmas carols all arranged for solo harp. Xavier recorded and arranged himself the famous “Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy” from The Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–93).

To be heard from The Nutcracker is also “The Waltz of the Flowers” in a harp transcription by the young Russian harpist and composer Alexander Boldachev. "Christmas Harp" features beautiful harp transcriptions and concert variations of the Christmas Carols "Jingle Bells," "Carol of the Bells," "O Tannenbaum (O Christmas Tree)," "Adeste fidelis," "We three Kings of Orient are," "It came upon the Midnight clear, Angels we have heard on High" and "O little Town of Bethlehem" as well as a transcription of the "Ave Maria" by Franz Schubert (1797–1828). Most of these arrangements and variations for harp are written by Carlos Salzedo (1885–1961), who was one of the leading composers for the harp and one of the best harpists of 20th century.

Besides the harp transcriptions of the famous Christmas songs by Salzedo, Xavier also recorded Salzedo's short fantasies based on Provençal, Catalan, Basque and Neapolitan Christmas carols. Particularly delightful is Salzedo's concert variations on the carol "O Tannenbaum," where he may be said to pull out all the stops in his desire to show how much music lies hidden in this number’s apparently simple twelve bars.

Gary Schocker is best known as the most published composer for the flute, but also is a world-renowned flutist. He has turned his attention to composing for solo harp, an instrument he is now playing. 

For this disc he has arranged 21 favorite Christmas carols for harp, performed by the ever-popular harpist Emily Mitchell. Ms. Mitchell's 30-year career includes numerous recordings, as well as performing and teaching around the world. In the words of the Washington Post, "Mitchell commands a vivid palette of colors and uses them with imagination."

https://www.albanyrecords.com/catalog/troy1438/