Strings For A Season

 
Downloads available at bandcamp

Strings for a Season is a collection of favorite seasonal tunes gathered up by Richard as he pays tribute to some very traditional tunes. Recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, with Grammy award winning sound engineer Tim Roberts, and co-produced with Grammy nominated artist Tim May, it's a flurry of sounds created by a family of strings from the guitar, cello, violin, mandolin, banjo, and piano.

This 15-track release features nine guitar arrangements for classical guitar from Mel Bay Publications author Stephen C. Siktberg's 1993 book, Christmas Music for Acoustic Guitar along with a John Fahey arrangement of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", and five arrangements by Richard Gilewitz, inspired by John Fahey's earlier popular Christmas albums.

Each track contains the signature 6 and 12-steel string guitar sounds of Richard Gilewitz as he shares the spotlight with the ambiance of cello from Laurie Jarski and Deidre Emerson, piano and keyboard from David Webb, and the violin of Gretchen Priest. Tim May, recording artist who has played with the likes of Patty Loveless, Eddie Rabbit, and Charlie Daniels, adds his touch with mandolin, tenor banjo, acoustic guitar and resophonic guitar. All solo guitar performances are by Richard Gilewitz except for a guitar duet with Tim May on "Angels We Have Heard on High"

According to Richard, his leap into the commercial arena of holiday music for his 7th recording "began nearly a year after first hearing Stephen Siktberg's CD filled with utterly brilliant and tasteful guitar arrangements of popular seasonal tunes. These pieces from his release simply titled Christmas Music for Acoustic Guitar, stuck with me long enough to get my attention and never let go.

"Convinced that I heard two guitars playing simultaneously, one day just out of curiosity I examined the music and realized these were arrangements for one guitar. I was floored and hooked! I believe the first piece I attempted was "Deck the Halls" and after four more years I selected my favorites from the book, along with some of my own arrangements inspired by John Fahey's earlier popular Christmas albums."

1. Deck the Halls* (Traditional Welsh Carol) 1:56
2. O Tannenbaum/We Wish You A Merry Christmas*
   (Traditional German Carol/ English Folksong) 3:19
3. O, Holy Night* (Adolphe Adam) 4:14
4. O Come, All Ye Faithful* (J.F. Wade) 1:56
5. Silent Night (Franz Gruber) 2:56
6. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing* (Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy) 3:02
7. Angels We Have Heard on High (Traditional French Carol) 2:18
8. What Child Is This? (16th Century English Melody) 2:44
9. Joy to the World* (George Frideric Handel) 1:40
10. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (19th Century English Carol) 2:48
11. The First Noel* (17th Century English Carol) 2:16
12. We Three Kings of Orient Are (John H. Hopkins, Jr.) 2:30
13. O, Little Town of Bethlehem* (Lewis H. Redner) 3:00
14. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear* (Richard Storrs Willis) 2:40
15. Jingle Bells (J. Pierpont) 2:15

*Guitar arrangements by Stephen C. Siktberg from "Christmas Music for Acoustic Guitar",
Mel Bay Publications 1993

Track 10. Guitar arrangement by John Fahey

Tracks 5, 7, 8, 12, 15. Guitar arrangements by Richard Gilewitz

All solo guitar performances by Richard Gilewitz, except for guitar duet with Tim May on Track 7