Hints and tips:
...The Furrow Collective marked time during the pandemic with an EP of carols. The quartet’s latest album, We Know by the Moon, kicks off with a carol-adjacent “The Moon Shines Bright”....
...The Latin motet “O Sanctissima” has an ancient but naggingly familiar melody which turns into rolling barrelhouse piano as it resolves into several choruses of “We Shall Overcome”....
...“Fall in Love at Christmas” (★★★☆☆) is a 1990s R&B/hip-hop throwback with piercing whistle singing, a carol-singing breakdown, a gospel choir and slinky co-vocals from singer Khalid....
...The familiar melody unfolds stylishly and slowly, with delicate decoration and no singing. Cellist Stella Le Page adds wintry atmospherics. Other songs from the Christmas canon follow....
...As the set continues, jazz, folk and classical influences merge and Ban reimagines the stately carols, sedate village dances, dirges and romps as wisps of melody for viola and reeds and delivers rumbling...
...To lighten the mood, there are some more upbeat numbers, including an exuberant ensalada by Mateo Flecha, and a handful of traditional carols using folk melodies, which add some catchy Renaissance rhythms...
...Brilliant observations from Wrecking Crew bassist Carol Kaye, who added a crucial six-note intro to the song, detail why Webb’s chords and melody stood out....
...Rhythm, melody, colour, narrative — all from a set of six (or 12) steel strings and 10 very dexterous fingers. ★★★★☆ ‘The Giant Who Ate Himself and Other New Works for 6 & 12 String Guitar’ is released...
...“See Amid The Winter Snow” and “Deck The Halls” elevate these minor carols. The modern songs fare less well....
...This 1853 Christmas Carol, set to the melody of a 13th-century Nordic Hymn, has since fallen into the hands of Joan Baez, Tom Jones and Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple....
...It dipped into the cabaret songs, together with a couple of carols and a choral piece, showing how skilful Bennett always was without delivering music that was truly individual....
...Introducing what he described as possibly his most complicated work to date, the composer outlined how he had taken apart 300 old German carols, so that only snatches of melody, harmony or rhythm can be...
...Sparse notes hovered over busy beats, melodies were clearly stated and angular lines thrust into the upper register....
...Elsewhere, they breathed life into melodies, without resorting to sentimentality. www.dorchester-abbey.org.uk...
...“Carol Ann Duffy, suck on this,” he says before opening, meatily, with “This Charming Man”....
...She finished on piano, hitting dissonant chords through “The Cherry Tree Carol”, idiosyncratically majestic....
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