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The Bells of Christmas / Pugsley, Gloriae Dei Ringers
Gloriae Dei Cantores

The Bells of Christmas / Pugsley, Gloriae Dei Ringers

$16.99

Details

Composer
BIZET MCKLVEEN ALLURED JER
Artist
Gloriae Dei Ringers, Pugsley
Format
CD
Label
Gloriae Dei Cantores
Released
Aug 01, 2010
Catalog #
GDCD122
UPC
709887012228

About

Nothing evokes Christmas like bells – ringing from a church steeple, accompanying a sleigh ride, or adorning evergreens. In this best-selling album, reissued at mid-price just in time for the season, the Christmas spirit is joyfully expressed through beloved carols performed on six-and-a-half octave set of Malmark handbells. The Gloriae Dei Ringers include old favorites in new arrangements, as well as original handbell works.

The Bells of Christmas is a new edition of the bestselling holiday recording, Hear them Ring. Featured are beloved favorites such as Away in a Manger, March of the Kings, and In the Bleak Midwinter arranged by some of today's best known handbell specialists and composers.

Described as "dynamically explosive" by the American Record Guide, the Gloriae Dei Ringers perform a diverse and expanding repertoire of original handbell compositions as well as classical arrangements. The Gloriae Dei Ringers, a sparkling and sonorous performing ensemble of young musicians, have dazzled audiences around the world including the US, Russia, Siberia, Italy, Finland and Switzerland.

"These virtuosi of metal and mallet positively palpitate with imagination and their arrangements are the ne plus ultra of shimmering, quivering pulsating pulchritude. The arrangement by Frances Legge Callahan summoning up twangy sonorities and pedal notes, a delicious range of colors including plucking and martellato effects. There are eleven players in this plucky Massachusetts group directed by Richard K Pugsley... they use 79 Malmark handbells (of 6 1/2 octaves). Twas Christmas Eve receives a rather suggestive reading that ends in Renaissance dignity whilst the witty coloration of The Twelve Days of Christmas is full of pitch extremes and glittering sonorities, like stars exploding. Away in a Manger is saturated in impressionistic ostinato; if you think handbells are inflexible creatures listen to the dynamic variance cultivated by these patrician East Coast ringers. They wouldn't rouse a butterfly's eyelids with the spectral quiescence of their Malmarks. A Flight of Angels is rhythmically novel; the sound of mallet on bell is distinctive as elsewhere the piping of shepherds in Shepherds, Watching is conveyed through simplicity and delicacy. Altogether their ensemble is metaltight, the sonorities they conjure full of lithe and pleasurable novelty."

— Jonathan Woolf, Musicweb-international.com

"The Gloriae Dei Ringers perform with a set of 79 bells covering 6 1/2 octaves. They are based in Massachusetts, but have toured in both eastern and western Europe, including Russia. This disc consists of arrangements of familiar Christmas carols as well as some original compositions for hand-bell choir by composers such as Donald Allured, Dale Jergenson, and Judy Hunnicutt. The performances are virtuosic, considering the teamwork essential to coherent ensemble in this medium. The program displays the wide variety of sounds that can be obtained from the bells through such techniques as plucking, martellato playing, and striking with mallets."

— William Gatens, American Record Guide

"From the Red Kettle Santas to the midnight call from the steeple, bells are a part of Christmas. This recording of Gloriae Dei's 11 musicians with their six-and-a-half-octave handbells goes beyond the usual arrangements of carols to transcriptions weaving dissonances and descants, the very highest and lowest tones, even the use of mallets on the bells to produce an intriguing and beautiful concert. In Twas Christmas Eve,Paul McKlveen pairs Let All Mortal Flesh with God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen. A Flight of Angels is Dale Jergenson's composition specifically for the bells, as is Donald Allured's Bellfest."

— Patricia Nakamura, The Living Church

Tracklist 14 tracks

  1. 1 Good Christian Men, Rejoice (arr. B. Greer for orchestra) 03:22
    Track
    1
    Title
    Good Christian Men, Rejoice (arr. B. Greer for orchestra)
    Duration
    03:22
    Composer
    Traditional
    Ensemble
    Gloriæ Dei Ringers
    Conductor
    Richard Pugsley
  2. 2 L'arlesienne: March of the Kings (arr. F.L. Callahan for orchestra) 02:24
    Track
    2
    Title
    L'arlesienne: March of the Kings (arr. F.L. Callahan for orchestra)
    Duration
    02:24
    Composer
    Georges Bizet
    Ensemble
    Gloriæ Dei Ringers
    Conductor
    Richard Pugsley
  3. 3 'Twas Christmas Eve 04:33
    Track
    3
    Title
    'Twas Christmas Eve
    Duration
    04:33
    Composer
    Paul Mcklveen
    Ensemble
    Gloriæ Dei Ringers
    Conductor
    Richard Pugsley
  4. 4 The Twelve Days of Christmas (arr. k. Mcchesney for orchestra) 05:00
    Track
    4
    Title
    The Twelve Days of Christmas (arr. k. Mcchesney for orchestra)
    Duration
    05:00
    Composer
    Traditional
    Ensemble
    Gloriæ Dei Ringers
    Conductor
    Richard Pugsley
  5. 5 What Child Is This? (arr. C. Dobrinski for orchestra) 03:27
    Track
    5
    Title
    What Child Is This? (arr. C. Dobrinski for orchestra)
    Duration
    03:27
    Composer
    Traditional
    Ensemble
    Gloriæ Dei Ringers
    Conductor
    Richard Pugsley
  6. 6 Away in a Manger (arr. B. Garee for orchestra) 05:32
    Track
    6
    Title
    Away in a Manger (arr. B. Garee for orchestra)
    Duration
    05:32
    Composer
    Traditional
    Ensemble
    Gloriæ Dei Ringers
    Conductor
    Richard Pugsley
  7. 7 Carols in Color 06:44
    Track
    7
    Title
    Carols in Color
    Duration
    06:44
    Composer
    Donald Allured
    Ensemble
    Gloriæ Dei Ringers
    Conductor
    Richard Pugsley
  8. 8 A Flight of Angels 02:33
    Track
    8
    Title
    A Flight of Angels
    Duration
    02:33
    Composer
    Dale Jergenson
    Ensemble
    Gloriæ Dei Ringers
    Conductor
    Richard Pugsley
  9. 9 Bellfest 05:50
    Track
    9
    Title
    Bellfest
    Duration
    05:50
    Composer
    Donald Allured
    Ensemble
    Gloriæ Dei Ringers
    Conductor
    Richard Pugsley
  10. 10 Coventry Carol (arr. R.E. Frey for orchestra) 03:33
    Track
    10
    Title
    Coventry Carol (arr. R.E. Frey for orchestra)
    Duration
    03:33
    Composer
    Traditional
    Ensemble
    Gloriæ Dei Ringers
    Conductor
    Richard Pugsley
  11. 11 Ding Dong Merrily on High (arr. C. Dobrinski for orchestra) 03:17
    Track
    11
    Title
    Ding Dong Merrily on High (arr. C. Dobrinski for orchestra)
    Duration
    03:17
    Composer
    Traditional
    Ensemble
    Gloriæ Dei Ringers
    Conductor
    Richard Pugsley
  12. 12 Masters in This Hall (arr. A. Kliever for orchestra) 03:39
    Track
    12
    Title
    Masters in This Hall (arr. A. Kliever for orchestra)
    Duration
    03:39
    Composer
    Traditional
    Ensemble
    Gloriæ Dei Ringers
    Conductor
    Richard Pugsley
  13. 13 Shepherds, Watching 02:45
    Track
    13
    Title
    Shepherds, Watching
    Duration
    02:45
    Composer
    Judy Hunnicutt
    Ensemble
    Gloriæ Dei Ringers
    Conductor
    Richard Pugsley
  14. 14 In the Bleak Midwinter (arr. K.L. Buckwalter for orchestra) 04:58
    Track
    14
    Title
    In the Bleak Midwinter (arr. K.L. Buckwalter for orchestra)
    Duration
    04:58
    Composer
    Harold Darke
    Ensemble
    Gloriæ Dei Ringers
    Conductor
    Richard Pugsley