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I think of Christmas as being a beautiful, blessed and magical time of year, as most people do
. I wanted to create an album that included some of the beautiful music that we don't hear as much, as well as some of our old favorite carols. With the help of some good and talented
friends, I think we did. You never hear some of the Spanish carols, like "Song of the Wise Men, " or "In Bethlehem's Cradle," but they are so beautiful and perfect for Peter Larsen to play on
guitar, along with the piano arrangement.
Since I am Swedish (my Dad was born in Motala, Sweden), I wanted to include two of my favorite Swedish carols,
too. They are "When Christmas Morn is Dawning" and "Christmas is Here, Again." I was happy my son,
conductor/violinist, James Arthur, could join me on an arrangement of the Bach-Gounod "Ave Maria." That was a
very special performance for me. I am also excited about the premier, on this album, of a Christmas song, "God
Gave Us Life," written by Randy Wills. It has beautiful words that he, and also his son, Ryan, sing, but Randy said
he had always wanted to hear a big piano version of this song. So, I made this arrangement especially for piano. With Randy's grand orchestrations, this is probably the most imposing arrangement on the album.
An extraordinarily special number on the album is "Baby Jesus, Sleeping Softly," which was written by my son,
James. It always moves me with its simplicity and the childhood innocence with which it was created. Seeing him
, now, as a mature conductor and violinist, I know that his musical sensitivity was always there, and he expressed
it so beautifully in this piece. The rest of the album has familiar carols, like "I Wonder as I Wander; Fum, Fum,
Fum; Away in a Manger; The Coventry Carol; The Wassail Song; The Holly and the Ivy; Deck the Halls"·and more!
Julie Rivers
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