Review

Various
Christmas in the European Tradition: 12 Traditional Carols for Brass Quintet

Arranged by Ram Whitley

2 B-flat trumpets, horn in F, trombone, tuba

Vancouver, BC, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2022
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 5 brass

This compilation comprises carols originating from England, France, Germany, Scotland/Ireland, Poland, Austria, and Finland, and apart from selections 3 and 10 which are by known composers, both of them German, they are ‘traditional’. Scoring is for the ‘standard’ brass quintet of two Trumpets in B-flat, Horn in F, Trombone, and Tuba. There is no indication that this collection might be intended to comprise a formal ‘suite’, and selections may be performed individually or in selected groups. Ten different keys are covered, seven major and three minor.

The first selection, O Sing a Song of Bethlehem (England), falls into two sections; the first in D minor ends ambiguously on an open 5th, as does the second, which is in F minor. The second selection Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent (France) is again in D minor. The following carol Oh, Come, Little Children by Johann Schultz (Germany, 1747 - 1800) is in E-flat major. This is followed by another German Carol, How Great our Joy, which has two sections, in B-flat major and in A minor respectively. Child In A Manger is described as ‘Gaelic’. The melody Bunessan, of either Scottish or Irish origin, is best known in its setting to the words Morning has Broken. It also has two sections, set in C and E-flat. This is followed by two German Carols - Oh, Come Little Children in E-flat and F and How Great Our Joy in B-flat and C. Child in a Manger which is of Scottish Gaelic origin is set in C and E-flat. Sing Hosannas and Infant Lowly are traditional Polish carols, set in E-flat/F and F/A-flat respectively. He Is Born and Sing We Now of Christmas are French carols in F/G and D minor/F minor respectively. Break Forth O Beauteous Heavenly Light is a German carol, composed by Johann Schop (1590 - 1667), set in B-flat, A minor, and A major. Still, Still, Still from Austria has 3 sections in C, A-flat, and D-flat.

The final selection is the English carol Good King Wenceslas, which is set in B-flat. The melody, from a 13th-century spring carol Tempus Adest floridum (Eastertime is Come), was first published in the Finnish song collection Piae Cantiones in 1582. In 1853 it appeared with the familiar English words celebrating the saintly 14th/15th century Bohemian monarch. In this arrangement, the upper four parts are quite extensively marked staccato; in the last 11 measures they are marked "bell-like."

These arrangements offer an interesting range of origin and styles, and are agreeably challenging. Trombone parts are given in bass clef; overall range is A-flat - f1. Both trumpet parts and horn top out at g2 (transposed pitches). Tuba goes down to AA. According to the publisher’s website, ‘these arrangements are suitable for advanced intermediate to moderately advanced performers’.

Ran Whitley is Professor of Music at Campbell University NC, where he also holds the Alma Dark Howard Endowed Chair.