The Christmas Shortlist
Selected and reviewed by Andrew Eales
When the top US piano arranger Phillip Keveren tells us that Christmas music is a genre of which he never tires, we can easily believe him, because his catalogue of Hal Leonard publications includes an almost bewildering array of seasonal titles.
The question of where to start an exploration of these publications is made easier by the arrival of another. The Essential Christmas Carol Anthology offers “36 Stunning Seasonal Arrangements”, selected from five previous titles, and including five new arrangements.
As such, and though offering a sampler from which the player might then want to go and explore more of Keveren’s Christmas fare, this could be the only Christmas collection late intermediate players (around UK Grades 5-6) need. Let’s find out….
Stunning Seasonal Arrangements
The anthology certainly offers a bumper selection of Christmas Carol favourites, including many of the most beloved seasonal melodies:
- A Christmas Celebration (medley)
- A Christmas Overture (medley)
- Angel Suite (medley)
- Angels We Have Heard on High
- Away In A Manger/Silent Night
- Come, thou long-expected Jesus
- Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy/
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen - Deck the Hall
- Ding Dong! Merrily on High!
- Go, Tell It on the Mountain
- God rest ye Merry, gentlemen
- Good christian men, rejoice
- Here We Come A-wassailing
- Huron Carol (‘Twas In The Moon Of Wintertime)
- I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
- I saw three ships
- In the bleak midwinter
- It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
- Joy to the world
- Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
- Lo, How A Rose E’Er Blooming
- O Christmas tree
- O come, all ye faithful
- O Come, O Come Immanuel
- O holy night
- O little town of Bethlehem
- Pat-a-pan (Willie, Take Your Little Drum)
- Silent night
- So Tender And Mild – A Christmas Medley
- Still, still, still
- The First Noel
- The holly and the ivy
- Ukrainian Bell Carol
- We Three Kings/What Child Is This
- We wish you a merry christmas
- What Child is This?
The majority of these titles are chosen from Keveren’s previous collections, with selections from Christmas Medleys, Yuletide Jazz, A Celtic Christmas, Christmas Carols with a Classical Flair, and The Twelve Keys of Christmas.
The titles of these previous collections gives a strong hint of the musical variety that is to be found in this one. In all cases, less than half of the arrangements from those previous titles are included, so if you have a penchant for a particular style you still might want to buy the appropriate individual book.
As for the new pieces, Keveren tells us,
“We have added some stocking stuffers as well, five new arrangements hot off the press: “Go, Tell it on the Mountain”, “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming”, “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, “Pat-a-Pan”, and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”.”
The Publication
The Essential Christmas Carol Anthology arrives as a tastefully presented comb-bound bumper book. The comb is made of clear plastic and seems durable, but wire spiral-binding might have been even better. Even so, the great benefit is that the book (which has 144 white pages) stays nicely flat on the music stand.
The music engraving, as usual from Hal Leonard, is clean and well spaced. Most pieces have no fingering suggestions although a few do, presumably reflecting variations between the source collections.
Helpfully the Contents listing has a two-page spread; for a collection this size, navigation is key. And at the rear of the book there is a listing of all the titles in each of the five source collections, showing the ones selected for this anthology in bold for ease of identification; a nice touch.
Closing Thoughts
This is a simple book to review and recommend: it does what it sets out to do, and it does it very well.
Is there any better arranger than Keveren? An interesting question, although it’s worth noting that regardless of the style he turns his hand to, the man makes his own mark: the distinctive Keveren voice is heard throughout, which is surely no bad thing!
These are arrangements which are a joy to play, bring each and every tune to life, and have a knack for including useful technical and musical learning along the way.
The shelf where I keep my collection of titles from the Phillip Keveren Series is starting to groan under the weight of the man’s obvious genius, and it’s a concern that he might inevitably follow this up with an Essential Christmas Song Anthology for the more contemporary fare.
But in the meantime, this is an anthology which will no doubt find its way to the piano year after year. Marvellous stuff.
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