Here are three refreshing new modernarrangements of three popular traditional carols ?like you ain?t never heardthem before?. Intended for the intermediate flute player (or players) and areasonably competent pianist, they are sure to brighten up your Christmasevents whether at home, school, church or recital hall. You can of course use the music with any number of flute players. The pieces could be usedduring a Christmas service or as stand-alone pieces at an end-of-termpresentation. The audio sample includes recordings of all three pieces.

The King Rides Out(based on ?Good King Wenceslas?) starts conventionally enough but turns into acountry-style song and then there?s a three-part Bach-like contrapuntal section,concluding with a wistful coda before the music returns to the joyful countrystyle. Waltz with Holly ? or Possibly Ivy (based of course on ?The Hollyand the Ivy?) turns into a dreamy waltz with long extended phrases and a goodvehicle to show the flute player?s tone quality. The Merry Gentleman goLatin is a lively rumba version of ?God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen?.

ColinKirkpatrick studied composition, cello and piano at London?s prestigious RoyalCollege of Music and after graduation followed a career in music education. Hewas a High School Music Director in London for about fifteen years and laterbecame a Music Education Adviser for local government, with the addedresponsibility for training teachers and directing the instrumental teaching service.

Hehas been published by Boosey & Hawkes, Novello, Paxton, Schott, OxfordUniversity Press, Chester, Belwin Mills and Intrada (Netherlands). He holds MAand PhD degrees in education and his other interests include reading,photography, travel, cooking and wine tasting - though not necessarily all atthe same time.

This ever-popular piece is often performed at weddings, funerals and many other solemn ceremonial events. It has always been a favorite among instrumental players and often used in recitals or concert encores. In 1853, the well-known French composer Charles Gounod added his own melody over a rippling keyboard accompaniment which was a slightly adapted version of the Prelude No. 1 in C major, BWV846, from Book I of J. S. Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, published in 1722. The title of the ?combined? piece was M�ditation sur le Premier Pr�lude de Piano de S. Bach. Gounod?s original arrangement transposed Bach?s keyboard part from C major into F major and it was scored for violin (or cello), organ and piano. In 1859, the French music publishing company Jacques-L�opold Heugel brought out a vocal version based on the familiar Latin text. Ave Maria (Hail Mary) is a traditional Catholic prayer addressed to the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus.
The version of Bach's prelude which Gounod used included the so-called "Schwencke measure" (m. 27 in this arrangement), a measure (bar) allegedly added by the German composer and pianist Christian Friedrich Gottlieb Schwencke (1767-1822) in an attempt to correct what was considered a harmonic weakness in the original. Whether there actually was a ?harmonic weakness? (or possibly an error in the manuscript) remains a matter of conjecture but the fact remains that the most familiar-sounding version of this piece, recorded countless times by both singers and instrumentalists includes this Schwencke measure. It is therefore included in this arrangement.
Some published arrangements show minor inconsistencies in the rhythm of the melody. This arrangement uses the familiar rhythm of the Ave Maria version as it appeared in the 1859 edition.