Carol Symphony
Carol Symphony is a collection of four preludes, written by Victor Hely-Hutchinson in 1927. It is based on five Christmas carols, given additional orchestration and counterpoint arrangements. The four movements are written to be played uninterrupted consecutively. History Carol Symphony was first performed by the Wireless Symphony Orchestra (the predecessor to the BBC Symphony Orchestra) on the BBC's 2LO radio station on 18 December 1927 conducted by John Barbirolli. The Radio Times describes the work thus: The composer tells us that in this last work he has tried to express the spirit of joy which is called up by the memories of the romance and mystery of the manger. All the four Movements are based on Christmas tunes, and are played without break. The First Movement, sedate in style and modelled closely on the Choral Preludes of Bach, treats the old tune we sing to O come, all ye faithful. The Second Movement, the Scherzo, alternates between slow and fast treatments of the carol-tune God rest you merry, gentlemen. The Third Movement, the composer says, is 'the real corn of the Symphony, and has a significance which should be clear from the tunes on which it is based, and from