Sleigh Ride

The legendary “rock band with horns” gets into the spirit of the holiday season with an album that mixes original christmas songs and Yuletide favorites.

Sir Andrew Davis and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra perform in this release which celebrates the relationship of Delius with his spiritual home, Norway. It features works inspired by the country’s landscape and culture, many bearing the influence of Delius’s great friend and mentor Edvard Grieg. Delius first performed Sleigh Ride on the piano to a close group of friends, including Grieg. Orchestrated later under the title Winter Night, it went on to become Delius’s most popular miniature. The Norwegian Suite was commissioned as incidental music to the satirical play Folkeraadet. Delius’s clever use of the Norwegian national anthem throughout the score, however skilful, was seen as an insult to national sensibilities and uproar ensued, eventually forcing Delius to withdraw the music. Eventyr, translated as ‘Tales of Adventure’, evokes the spirit of Norwegian folk-tales. Delius applies some of his most imaginative orchestral strokes as he portrays a supernatural world of trolls, giants, demons, and pixies. Despite its brevity, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring is one of Delius’s sublime achievements, a perfect translation of nature and mood into music. Norwegian soprano Ann-Helen Moen joins the orchestral forces in Two Songs from the Norwegian.