Trombones Under the Tree

Joseph Alessi, Mark H. Lawrence
Carl Lenthe, M. Dee Stewart

White Christmas - Berlin/Cobine 349k mp3 file
We Three Kings - Hopkins/Elkjer 827k mp3 file
Jolly Old Saint Nicholas - Up On The Housetop - Trad. American - Hanby/Cobine
Joy to the World - Handel/Reichenbach & Bates - Howe 969k mp3 file
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Trad. English/Cobine
Wassail Song - Trad. English/Reichenbach & Bates
Bring A Torch - Trad. French/Reichenbach & Bates
The Christmas Song - Tormé & Wells/Elkjer 510k mp3 file
Nutcracker Sketches - Tschaikowsky/Lenthe
Deck The Halls - Trad. Welsh/Reichenbach & Bates
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Mendelssohn/Reichenbach & Bates
O Christmas Tree-The First Noel - Trad. German/Reichenbach & Bates - Elkjer
Let It Snow - Styne/Elkjer 606k mp3 file
What Child Is This? - Trad. English/Vaughan Williams/Roby 948k mp3 file
Coventry Carol - Trad. English/Pickett
Good King Wenceslas - Trad. English/Reynolds
The Little Drummer Boy - Simeone/Reynolds
Carol Of The Bells - Leontovich/Reynolds
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Coots/Howe
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel - Trad. French/Reynolds
Sheep May Safely Graze - Bach/Williams
Come Hear The Wonderful Tidings - Trad. American/Cobine
Break Forth, O Beautious Heavenly Light - Bach/Pickett
Away In The Manger-Silent Night - Trad. American - Gruber/Elkjer 438k mp3 file
We Wish You A Merry Christmas - Trad. English/Elkjer 448k mp3 file

Program Notes

The Making of a Christmas Recording

Would you believe it took 22 years to develop this seasonal music? During the 1970's, while playing in the Philadelphia Orchestra and teaching at the Curtis Institute of Music, I began a weekly low brass class - later to be christened the Curtis Low Class Brass, a name that stuck forever. One winter, the Curtis trombones started playing Christmas carols at churches, at parties, and occasionally on the streets of New York and Philadelphia, their cases open for donations. A great sound was produced by these very talented and spirited young musicians.

In 1980, after I announced that I was leaving the Philadelphia Orchestra and Curtis to become a professor at Indiana University, the low class brass asked if they could record Christmas music during our last meeting. The results of that two hour "session" were spectacular. The students prepared a festive liner, entitled it Trombones under the Tree, and I received the tape a few months later in Indiana.

Joe, Mark, and Carl (former Curtis students), occasionally mentioned the possibility of making a Christmas CD and eventually a plan developed. However, it took three years to find a week when these very successful performers could fly to Indiana University from New York, San Francisco, and Munich. Several arrangers were contacted, and the response was overwhelming. Impressed with the personnel involved, they provided more music than we could possibly fit on one CD. The arrangements chosen are beautiful, exciting, calming, lyrical, rhythmic, humorous, devotional, and...well, you get the idea!

I played bass trombone while Joe, Mark, and Carl alternated on the alto and tenor parts. As one who had been involved in a portion of their development and had watched with pride as they climbed to the top of the profession, I was thrilled to spend a week of intense music-making with them. A real treat for the teacher!

So - after 22 years, the idea finally came to fruition. I'm proud to be a part of it. I hope you enjoy it!

--M. Dee Stewart