Island Records is marking the 175th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol on 1st December 2017 with a new release from actor Simon Callow and current national brass band champions The Brighouse and Rastrick Band.
Combining Callow’s acclaimed adaptation of the classic with traditional Christmas carols performed by The Brighouse and Rastrick Band, the release is the perfect pre-Christmas treat.
CD One features Callow’s narration enhanced by music and CD Two features all of the well-loved full-length Christmas carols performed by The Brighouse and Rastrick Band including Silent Night, Away In A Manager and O Come All Ye Faithful.
Callow performed a one-man version of A Christmas Carol at the Arts Theatre in December 2016, directed by Tom Cairns.
Simon Callow said: “Charles Dickens is one of the supreme storytellers of all time; it’s always been a joy for me to perform not just the characters and the dialogue but to speak in the uniquely compelling voice of the author himself. It’s been wonderful to come back again, for new listeners and to old, to the timeless place in all our hearts that ‘A Christmas Carol’ occupies, this time with the addition of marvellously stirring music to accompany what is a story that will never cease to be relevant, moving and funny for as long as stories are told.”
The track listing for A Christmas Carol is:
CD 1
1. STAVE 1 – Marley’s Ghost
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
The Angel Gabriel
2. Once upon a time
Good King Wenceslas
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
3. While all this was going on
Silent Night
4. Now, it is a fact that there was nothing at all particular about the knocker
5. STAVE 2 – The First Of The Three Spirits
O Little Town Of Bethlehem
Ding Dong Merrily
The First Nowell
The Holly And The Ivy
6. Come on. Quick! my time grows short.
The Angel Gabriel
7. Scrooge was abruptly conscious of being exhausted
STAVE 3 – The Second Of The Three Spirits
In Dulce Jubilo
The Sussex Carol
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night
8. Bob said he didn’t believe there ever was such a goose cooked
Hark The Herald Angels Sing
9. It was a great surprise to Scrooge
10. The time is drawing near
STAVE 4 – The Last Of The Spirits
Coventry Carol
11. They entered the city
Good King Wenceslas
12. The scene disappeared
In The Bleak Midwinter
13. STAVE 5 – The End Of It
Joy To The World
The First Nowell
14. Then he turned his steps towards his nephew’s house
15. He was early at the office next morning
Silent Night
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
CD 2
1. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
2. Silent Night
3. Good King Wenceslas
4. In Dulci Jubilo
5. Away in A Manger
6. The Holy And The Ivy
7. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
8. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
9. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night
10. The Angel Gabriel
11. O Come All Ye Faithful
12. Ding Dong Merrily On High
13. Sussex Carol
14. Hark The Herald Angels Sing
15. Coventry Carol
16. The First Nowell
17. Once in Royal David’s City
18. In The Bleak Midwinter
19. Joy To The World
