As bell ringers, it’s one of those piece we just have to play. Every year we all get asked to play some version of “Carol of the Bells” over and over again. Luckily, the handbell composer community has come to the rescue and written lots of really interesting arrangements of the tune. So many in fact that my own bell group has, on multiple occasions, contemplated putting together an all “Carol of the Bells” set just to see how long it would take the audience to catch on. My thought is we could make it through at least half a dozen arrangements before people start walking out.
Anyways, here’s a Hart Morris arrangement of the tune. I like this one because it’s more like a fantasy than a straight arrangement. I picture someone running through a town, looking for a handbell performance, listening to the ringing bounce off of buildings and down alley ways, but never actually finding the destination. BellForza does a great job capturing that etherial evasion in their performance.
Join us again tomorrow for day 7 of Handbell Advent, which I promise will not be another arrangement of this tune.
