Song List: Let Our Gladness Know No End Oh! Infant Jesus When Christ Was Born Of Mary Free O Come, All Ye Faithful Angels, From The Realms Of Glory Angels We Have Heard On High As Each Happy Christmas I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day As Joseph Was a-Walking As with Gladness Men of Old Away In A Manger Hey, Hey, Ho A Babe Is Born in Bethlehem In a Manger He Is Lying The Babe Of Bethlehem Jingle Bells Beautiful Savior Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella Cantique de Noel The Cherry Tree Carol Child Jesus Came To Earth This Day Come, All Ye Children Everywhere, Everywhere, Christmas Tonight The First Noel From Every Spire On Christmas Eve From Heaven Above Gather Around the Christmas Tree Glad Christmas Bells The Golden Carol Good Christian Men, Rejoice Infant So Gentle Hark! The Herald Angels Sing O Little Town of Bethlehem O Come, Little Children Lullay, Though Little Tiny Child Silent Night Oh, How Joyfully O Christmas Tree Joy To The World Lo, How a Rose Little Children, Can You Tell? Hark the Glad Sound I Saw Three Ships It Came Upon the Midnight Clear We Wish You a Merry Christmas From Earthly Tasks Lift Up Thine Eyes As Lately We Watched God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen The Other Night A Child This Day Is born Sleep, Holy Babe Christ Was Born on Christmas Day Companions, All Sing Loudly The Seven Joys of Mary Deck the Hall Come, All Ye Shepherds In Bethlehem, The Lowly Immortal Babe Wassail, Wassail Jolly Old Saint Nicholas The Happy Christmas Comes Once More Oh! Night Among The Thousands While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks To Us Is Born A Little Child Hark Ye Shepherds Hark, from the Midnight Hills Around We Three Kindgs of Orient Are Good King Wenceslas Shepherds, Shake Off Your Drowsy Sleep Noel, Noel Here We Come A-Caroling Whence Comes This Rush of Wings? The Holly and the Ivy Oh! Dear Jesus How Brightly Beams The Morning Star What Child Is This? March Of The Three Kings On Christmas Night Joseph, O Dear Joseph Mine There Comes a Vessel Laden Mary, Dear Mother Of Jesus How Vain the Cruel Herod's Fear Rise Up, Shepherds, an' Foller Go, Tell It on the Mountains O Come, O Come Emmanuel Ring, Christmas Bells The Sleep of the Child Jesus My Sheep Were Grazing A Joyful Christmas Song O Holy Night We Do Worship Thee

Sounds like: Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, Vince Guaraldi, Liz Story's "The Gift", George Winston's "December", early Windham Hill solo piano artists, and "A Winter's Solstice" compilations.


Transcribed by: David Shenton ( https://www.shentonmusic.com/ ) verbatim to the sound recording

Contents:
1. Bring A Torch (Bring A Torch, Jeanette, Isabella)
2. Children Go Where I Send Thee / The Holly & The Ivy
3. Star Of Wonder (We Three Kings of Orient Are)
4. Silent (Silent Night, Holy Night)
5. Midnight (It Came Upon the Midnight Clear)
6. What Child Is This?
7. Greensleeves (homage to Liz Story)
8. Three Ships (I Saw Three Ships, Come Sailing In)
9. The Coventry Carol (Lully, Lulla, Lullay)
10. Sing We Now Of Christmas (Noël Nouvelet)
11. Carol Of The Bells

Album & Songbook review by: Kathy Parsons (MainlyPiano.com):

I have discovered a real wealth of great solo piano Christmas CDs this year! Isadar?s In Search For the Meaning of Christmas definitely falls into this category! Thoughtful, introspective, and a bit moody, Isadar?s arrangements are true to the carols (with some small melody changes in ?Bring a Torch? and ?Carol of the Bells? that bother me just a little) and still seem very personal. ?Bring a Torch?, ?The Holly and the Ivy?, and ?I Saw Three Ships? are given a lighthearted, joyful treatment. ?Star of Wonder (We Three Kings)?, ?What Child Is This??, ?The Coventry Carol?, and ?Sing We Now of Christmas? are all minor, somber, reverent pieces, and all four are given loving arrangements that keep the dark, mysterious nature of the songs and reflect Isadar?s own sensibilities. ?Carol of the Bells? and Isadar's take on Liz Story?s arrangement of ?Greensleeves? are energetic without losing all abandon. ?Silent Night? and ?It Came Upon a Midnight Clear? present us with a very cold, deep solitude - both feel like late night with moonlight reflecting off the snow. Both are moody, but very beautifully so. George Winston?s ?December? is one of my all-time favorite holiday albums, and I feel In Search For the Meaning of Christmas holds up exceptionally well next to it. This is an excellent collection of Christmas music, and I highly recommend it!

In Search For the Meaning of Christmas is the companion songbook to Isadar?s 1999 solo piano release by the same name. Meticulously transcribed note-for-note by David Shenton of New York Music Publishing, the music is faithful to the recording in every way (except for the pianist - YOU!). The scores are clear, concise, and easy to read, and also include chord indications for improvisation or the use of instruments other than or in addition to the piano. Isadar?s arrangements cover a whole range of emotions, from very dark and somber to joyful and buoyant. All of the pieces from the CD are here, including Isadar?s homage to Liz Story and her beautiful version of ?Greensleeves.? My personal favorites of the eleven songs in this book are the bright and cheerful ?Bring A Torch,? ?What Child Is This??, ?Greensleeves,? the darkly gorgeous ?The Coventry Carol,? and ?Sing We Now of Christmas.? Other titles that I really like are ?Children Go Where I Send Thee/The Holly and the Ivy,? ?Star of Wonder (We Three Kings)," ?Carol of the Bells,? and the effervescent ?Three Ships.? ?Silent? (Silent Night) and ?Midnight? (It Came Upon a Midnight Clear) are a bit too dark for my own holiday tastes, but are interesting and very personal arrangements. This book will make a great addition to your holiday sheet music collection and is available from isadar.com and amazon.com.

Isadar is an artist on both Enlightened Piano Radio & Whisperings Solo Piano Radio, the latter featuring some of today's biggest names in solo piano music, including Ludovico Einaudi, David Nevue, Brian Crain, Kevin Kern, Robin Spielberg, Michele McLaughlin, Philip Wesley and over 300 more...

Also available as sheet music in physical songbooks, digital downloads, as well as software for Yamaha Disklavier player-pianos.

For more information, visit his website at: http://www.isadar.com