72. My Favourite Festive Piece.

Do you think that classical music is not for you and you don't know where to start? Or maybe you're a fan already and would welcome a fresh approach. You've come to the right place. Perfect pitch is for everyone. Beginners or experts, whatever your age. Lend Nick Healy Hutchinson your ears for his weekly dose of classical music that will enrich your life.

Heads up, I'm being a little bit lazy today. Because this week's podcast comprises just one piece of the festive period. The Carol Symphony by my great uncle Victor. And I'm being even more idle because the words I'm going to use about it are not mine, but those of somebody else. The writer, journalist, and music critic Richard Bratby wrote about Victor and the symphony in a 2009 blog post. With his permission, I'm quoting some of what he said, because not only can I not improve on it, but it also has the benefit of being impartial. Here are some of those words. Somehow, in this short but full musical life, Haley Hutchinson found time to compose around 150 original works. The best known by Country Mile is the Carol Symphony from 1927. But they all show superb craftsmanship, a masterly ear for orchestral colour, and a warm, thoroughly engaging sense of musical humour. The Carol Symphony is far more than a mere seasonal medley. It's actually a lovely and very English folk song sinfonietta in four movements. In the spirit of John Moran, Ray Form Williams, and John Ireland. It's packed with good things. The bustling mock baroque figuration of the first movement, a sort of chorale prelude on Okam Woody Faithful, the jazzy, Walton-like verb of the scherzo, God Rest You Merry Gentleman, Splashes of Handel, Elgar, and Polytonal Stravinsky. And the way, Here We Come Watchling, trips in on the woodwind as the fugal finale bounds towards its grand, horn-thrilling finish. And above all, that slow movement in which Hey Hutchinson sets the Coventry Carol to bleak frozen harmonies that anticipate Vaughn Williams' Sixth Symphony. And then, with dancing harp, muted strings, and finally full orchestra, lightens our darkness with the gentlest and most enchanting sette ever made of the first Noel. And he goes on to say whatever else we remember him for, in a Carol Symphony, Victor Heley Hutchinson gave us something very special and enduringly beautiful. Why would I want to add anything to that? In the words of the great comedian Dave Allen, may your God go with you, and wherever you are listening, I send you heartfelt thanks for doing so, as well as my wishes for the happiest of festive periods and twenty twenty-three. But if you're in need of music, there are seventy-two episodes to dip into or catch up on over the break. Victor Healy Hutchinson's Carol Symphony is played here in a very spirited recording by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gavin Sutlerland. It's a truly uplifting twenty-five minutes.