A New Holiday CD by Yo-Yo Ma ...inspired by The Christmas Revels!
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s star-studded holiday CD is a joyful musical party inspired by the holiday season, and in part by The Christmas Revels. Don’t take our word for it. Read the liner notes below.
Songs of Joy & Peace features such luminaries as James Taylor, Diana Krall, Dave Brubeck, Joshua Redman, Chris Botti and the Silk Road Ensemble with new takes on holiday favorites, not to mention four variations of the peace round "Dona Nobis Pacem," sung each year by cast and audience together at The Christmas Revels.
"One of my favorite holiday memories, which I wanted to recreate at the recording sessions, is the joyful feeling evoked by singing together. Every year my extended family and I attend The Christmas Revels, a community celebration of the winter solstice that includes traditional music, dance, drama and rituals drawn from the world’s cultures. During the performance, the audience joins in singing the three-part canon Dona Nobis Pacem (Give us Peace), famously written by Annonymous. For a short time, parents, grandparents, children, actors, dancers and musicians become one, recreating a ritual that is contemplative and transcendent."--from the liner notes of Songs of Joy & Peace
