The Mellstock BandALBUMS AND BOOKS |
 Photo: Keith Kitson www.folkfoto.co.uk |
Including some of our best-loved Christmas carols as they would have been heard in Thomas Hardy's time with spirited Church Band accompaniment from The Mellstock Band
The Mellstock Band
Dave Townsend - English Concertina Tim Hill - Early Clarinets
Phil Humphries - Serpent, Ophicleide Charles Spicer - Early Oboes
with
Viven Ellis - Soprano Helen Chadwick - Alto
Jeremy Avis - Tenor Ian Giles - Bass
Pete Cooper - Violin Giles Lewin - Violin
Gill Redmond - Cello
Glad Tidings presents some of our more familiar Christmas carols in unfamiliar guise, with the settings, instrumentation and singing styles of west gallery choirs of the past. The band are joined by four stunning singers and three exceptional string players for this unique project. Instrumental "Symphonies" and instrumental parts in the spirit of surviving examples have been composed by Dave Townsend, and vocal parts assigned in various ways to reflect the variety enjoyed by the old choirs and by traditional singers nowadays.
1 Portugal New (O Come, All Ye Faithful)
2 God's Dear Son
3 Lyngham (While Shepherds Watched)
4 Sir Roger de Coverley
5 Glory Shone Around
6 Old Christians (Christians, Awake)
7 A Virgin Unspotted
8 Dives and Lazarus
9 Winchester Tune
10 Sellwood Mollineux' Carol (Hark the Glad Sound)
11 The Dorchester Hornpipe & Speed the Plough
12 Star in the East (Brightest and Best)
13 Jerusalem (Joy to the World)
14 God Rest You Merry
15 The Triumph
16 Glad Tidings
Ghosts & Lovers - Tales of dread and delight from hidden byways of rural tradition SER007
The Dance at the Phoenix - Songs, Tunes and
Poems from Hardy's Wessex BEJOCD-28
Hey for Christmas! - The Mellstock Band & The Oxford Waits sing Broadside
Ballads with Festive Themes BEJOCD-31
Let the Echo Fly: The Story of West Gallery Music performed by the Christminster Singers
William Knapp: Anthems, Psalms and Hymns - The Christminster Singers
perform music by the 18th c. west gallery composer from Dorset.
The following albums may be ordered from Saydisc Records at www.saydisc.com (search their online catalogue under Townsend):
Under the Greenwood Tree
Songs of Hardy's Wessex
A Celtic Christmas
The Mellstock Carols The revised and enlarged second edition is here at last, with 20 carols re-edited from the Hardy manuscripts and other Dorset sources. Price £8.50.
The Village Band Book, English Dance Tunes & Marches arranged by Dave Townsend in three, four or five parts. Some of the part-settings as played by the band. Price £8.50.
Dave Townsend's English Dance Music, vols 1 & 2 130 tunes in each volume, with chord arrangements and variants. Price £9.50 per volume.
To order any of the above by post, click here.
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