Earpiece #9: A Christmas Suite

Mark Gresham | 25 NOV 2020

A special Christmas Day Episode of Earpiece (No. 9), a new weekly series of audio and video presentations curated by EarRelevant’s publisher and principal writer Mark Gresham.

Today is Christmas Day, so we offer a special non-Thursday holiday episode with some more cheerful music that itself needs little explanation beyond the following by pianist Cary Lewis. on Facebook:

Now that we have a YouTube channel available to us, we can finally share some Christmas music recorded long ago. Susan Tepping was a beloved colleague at Georgia State University. Her two compositional loves were counterpoint and dodecaphony, She was also an avid Schenkerian. Although she was Jewish, she loved Christmas songs. This is a Baroque dance suite, just like the Bach French Suites — except the tunes are well-known sacred and not-so-sacred Christmas melodies. My favorite is the sarabande on Silent Night, with the tune in the cello. Merry Christmas!

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Susan Tepping’s Christmas Suite

Paul Murphy, viola
Dorothy Lewis, cello
Cary Lewis, piano

Susan Tepping: Christmas Suite
Allemande: Deck the Halls 0:00
Courante: Away in a Manger 1:20
Sarabande: Silent Night 3:28
Bourrée: Santa Claus is Coming to Town 5:48
Gavotte: Up on the Housetop 6:48
Pastorale: Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella 7:30
Gigue: We Wish You a Merry Christmas 9:20

Playlist Duration: 11:40

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