Cor Carols!

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Back in 1981 a recording was released, Music for Christmas, featuring the Eastman French Horn Choir and the Eastman Trombone Choir. The first track on that album is Cor Carols, a work arranged by Leonard P. Schwartz. Schwartz was a horn student at Eastman at the time and is listed among the student performers.

According to the record jacket the Eastman French Horn Choir was established in 1969. I was a student at Eastman from 1984-86, and this work was a key work among the works we performed at the annual Eastman Holiday Sing, all of them being works in 8 parts performed by two antiphonal horn choirs with all parts at least doubled, with three first horns in each choir and four fourth horns each for a total of 22 horns when I was there. To this day this general arrangement of 8 part antiphonal horn choir writing (with the over doubled low parts) remains my favorite horn choir setup.

As to Cor Carols, it is an inventive work that combines Christmas favorites with orchestral excerpts. By the time I was there Verne Reynolds had re-worked the ending compared to the recording. I have been told that he subsequently re-worked the piece several times. I’ve heard later versions and personally miss the original ending, but it still works well no matter what you do.

Want to hear it live? I believe it will be performed annually at the Eastman Holiday Sing for as long as the event is held. One not to miss if you are in the Rochester area in December!

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