Customer Reviews

Leroy Anderson Christmas

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Finally, we North Americans have the great "A Christmas Festival" conducted by Leroy Anderson on CD. The whole collection, like the preceding LP of the 60's, is infectious and brilliantly played. The final sound is a little edgy... there seems to be a lack of sound space in the compressing. I would not hesitate to give this a 5-star rating. It will have you dancing for joy. The cackle and pop of the LP are gone. The sound is there, edgy as I said, but still quite musical. The next best version of "A Christmas Festival" is the one conducted by John Williams.

After hearing the Carol Suites for strings and brass on a complete survey of Leroy Anderson's music on Naxos, but not the one for woodwinds (coming later on another volume?), I located it here and jumped on this album. Anderson was a terrific arranger in addition to being a composer, and, as most know, worked with the Boston Pops for many years. These selections show his skills to great effect. You know "Sleigh Ride" and "Christmas Festival", but the Suites were new to me. They are full versions of many carols, since Anderson, as reported in the notes, did not want to do just another compilation piece. Anderson himself conducts, except for a Fiedler/Boston Pops "Sleigh Ride", which everybody has 3 or 4 versions of elsewhere, so skip track 1 as a filler and go straight to the good stuff, including an Anderson-led "Sleigh Ride". You won't be disappointed in the music. The recording isn't really warm and full (sounds somewhat like the annual RCA and Columbia Special Products Christmas LP's), but it's plenty good enough. Made me almost ready for Christmas, listening in June. Almost.

Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride" is one of the best known holiday melodies and is included on numerous Christmas music collections. It is a piece that captures a listeners imagination conjuring up memories of an old fashioned sleigh ride even though most of us who listen have probably never traveled over the snow covered land in a sleigh. It's quite possible that Anderson himself, a city dweller most of his life, never traveled in a Currier and Ives like sleigh ride, but his gifts as a composer make us all feel as if we have vicariously experienced this winter pleasure.

"Sleigh Ride" is not Anderson's only contribution to the holiday season. As gifted as he was as a composer, he was a talented arranger as well. This collection, re-released by Decca includes "Sleigh Ride" but also three of his Christmas suites. His "Christmas Festival" was made famous by Arthur Fielder and the Boston Pops and was a staple of Pops Christmas concerts until a critic in the BOSTON GLOBE said it was old and stale. The disc also includes three other arrangements one for strings, one for woodwinds and one for brass. Each of the arrangements displays Anderson's gift for instrumentation.

The arrangements of the suites for woodwinds, brass, and strings will probably be something new for many listeners and will certainly be enjoyed. People familiar with "Christmas Festival" from Boston Pops recordings may find this recording somewhat lackluster. The magnificent organ of Boston's Symphony Hall gives the piece a flair that seems to be missing in this recording. Also the recording of "Sleigh Ride" which is performed by the Pops under the direction of Fiedler is not as exciting other performances. My guess is that most people will purchase this recording for the brass, string, and woodwind arrangements and will find this disc adds something to a good collection of holiday music.

We had a vinyl album back when I was growing up only it had a different cover on the jacket entitled, "Leroy Anderson's Christmas Carols." The jacket pictured a white cat sitting in front of a tinsel-strewn Christmas tree. Although this is not the exact same thing it is as close to the original performed by L. Anderson without rereleasing the original which I truly hope they do sometime soon.

Performed by Arthur Fieldler, Fieldler did a wonderful job at performing this so close to the original. It is completely instrumental and does a superb job at transitioning the Christmas carols from one to the next as Anderson did. Absolutely beautiful and the Best!

Christmas didn't start in our house growing up until we heard A Christmas Festival softly playing! Because the CD was not available until relatively recently, I tried to burn my own from brand new vinyl. The audio quality of the vinyl was pretty poor- the woodwind selections were very "dirty"... being an amateur, that's the way it stayed.

This CD is fantastic!! Whatever flaws that were heard on the vinyl have been cleaned up. Adding "Sleigh Ride" was nice, and IMHO, this version of "A Christmas Festival" is the finest available... Contemporary versions by the Boston Pops seem too slow and "harsh". We've all heard the remaining carols, but very likely didn't know the names- some are quite obscure... Having the brass, woodwinds, and strings arrangements grouped separately is awesome. If there are published scores for these, I would love to get a hold of them for playing locally!

The only thing missing? The original album cover, the one with the picture of Leroy Anderson on the front, had nice little program notes for all the songs on the back. It would have been nice to carry those forward!

If you enjoy this album, try Percy Faith's "Music of Christmas I"... It's called "Hallelujah" on Amazon.

Regards and Merry Christmas

eric

"Sleigh Ride" was a number I did when I was in my high school band. We always enjoyed playing the song, now I get to relive that moment by playing it on this CD. This is a good CD for some "background" Christmas music you will play throughout your home. Enjoy!

In his own style Anderson does not disappoint,just a nice 45minutes or so of lush sounds

I suggest that everyone include works by Leroy Anderson in their musical collections. Most everyone has heard some of his music, some without knowing the composer is very popular and whose music is heard and enjoyed around the world.

"A Leroy Anderson Christmas" (CD) is terrific! First, and last, we have Sleigh Ride, composed by Leroy Anderson. Next we have a Meldley, then 19 Christmas Carols, all arranged by Anderson, into a concert overture and three suites of Carols. Also, Anderson and his Orchestra and Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops recorded the music. I, already, had a high opinion of Leroy Anderson's musical abilities, but this CD moved my opinion up by an entire notch.

Between 1992 and 2005, I lived about two or three towns over from Woodbury. The roads, fields, stone dry-wall fences, and Colonial-style houses in this part of Connecticut may be new or updated from the ninteenth century but they often have the same feel as they do in the Currier and Ives print on the front of the CD. And, some of the few farmers that are left in the area do have horse-drawn sleds that they bring out for the Holidays!

This is very good music. I recommend this CD highly!

This CD should be wonderful, after all, Leroy Anderson was a fine composer and arranger, and three of the pieces on the CD have been unavailable for decades. However, it's a disappointment. The three Suites of Carols are for orchestra sections (brass, strings, or woodwinds) and are undistinguished. The recorded sound is mostly thin and harsh. Even though the CD includes two recordings of "Sleigh Ride", the total time is only 50 minutes. Even at the bargain price, I can recommend this CD only to the most fervent Leroy Anderson fans.