Dix Noëls

The carols here, from France, Austria and Spain, are well presented and aimed at players around grade 3 level. Two verses of the ubiquitous Silent Night are arranged in a two-part texture, with an embellished bass line in the second half, R est ne le divin enfant has a drone-like bass, which is a useful study for the thumb playing two strings simultaneously. Angelsfrom the realrns of glory has strummed chords on the strong beats in the first verse and the sequences of the chorus are neatly fingered. The remaining carols were unknown to me, but I particularly liked Pastro, pastresso from Provence and El buen rabadin from Spain. All the arrangements here were straightforward with logical fingering; this volume could be useful for something different in a Christmas concert. (Linda Kelsall-Barnett, Classical Guitar, 12/2000)