Leroy Anderson made his name as an arranger for the Boston Pops Orchestra, building on that recognition with many original “light-orchestra” novelty pieces, including The Typewriter, The Syncopated Clock, and Bugler’s Holiday. But almost anyone who knows the name Leroy Anderson is likely most familiar with his Sleigh Ride, one of the more evocative pop-orchestra creations–and singers know it well too, as words were added shortly after the work’s Boston premiere. This joyful, heartwarming program features not only a Boston Pops rendition of Sleigh Ride (at both beginning and end), but rarely-heard suites on Christmas carols that Anderson arranged and performed with his own orchestra during the 1950s. There’s also the medley A Christmas Festival that combines nine more familiar carols in Anderson’s immediately recognizable, upbeat, colorfully and cleverly orchestrated style.
The sound in the suites has a constricted “old-orchestra-recording” quality, but it’s perfectly listenable and only suffers from some distortion in the loudest passages. Sleigh Ride is bright, open, and vibrant. Although there’s not any real stylistic difference from suite to suite, the varied array of carols and treatments of each keeps you happily–if not always attentively–listening. Anderson fans will definitely want this, as will listeners who like their Christmas carols done with this arranger’s special mix of rhythmic verve, imaginative colors, melodic sensitivity, and sheer pizzazz. [11/8/2004]
