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Holiday Flute Recordings

© Karen Stafford

The melodic strains of the season have been wafting through your rooms for a couple of weeks now. How about some of your favorite carols performed on our favorite instrument? There are some recordings out there right now (some I've heard, some I've seen...) that will make your holidays more melodic. The audio clips included use RealPlayer, which you can download for free!

James Galway always comes through for flute lovers on just about everything, and he does it again in Christmas Carol, distributed by BMG Classics. This recording includes the Boys of St. Alban's Cathedral Choir. The listening excerpt is Shepard's Pipe Carol. He also has the other following holiday recordings out: Noel (this recording also includes Richard Stolzman on clarinet, the Canadian Brass, and the King's Singers); Carol of the Drum-A New-Age Christmas (with the Hampton String Quartet - Michala Petri on recorder, Richard Stoltzman on clarinet, Emily Mitchell, and the Chieftains); and O Holy Night, with the Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops (along with the Canadian Brass).

Fellow flute lister Jennifer Grady, along with Karen Alquist on harp, perform beautifully, as they show in their new holiday recording Christmas Harpsong:Noël. The listening excerpt is Patapan. To order this wonderful CD, send a check or money order for $16 ($15 for the CD and $1 for postage) and a mailing address to send it to. As soon as Jenny receives it, I will put the CD into the mail. (For the US, it takes about 2 days to get there. Europe has been taking about 1 week.) The mailing address is:
Jennifer Grady
699 Eureka Ave
Silverton, OR 97381

OK, I have a prejudice. I am VERY partial to Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas music, with instrumentation combining the modern and, well, Medieval! The use of recorder is very prominent in several of their recordings, but I really like this one featuring a piccolo (or is it a sopranino recorder? What's your opinion?). Click onto God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen from their Mannheim Steamroller: Christmas album.

This next one was recommended to me by a friend, Sheila Smith-Downey, featuring Marianne Whitmyer and Joseph Poshek on flute and guitar, called L'Age Noël, from Bauhaus Records. This excerpt is O Holy Night. Sorry, I can't tell you any more about where to get a hold of this recording! Sheila's had it a while, so if anyone knows of where this recording can be obtained, please let me know or post it in the discussion area.

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