Christmas Flourish

American composer, conductor, pianist and singer Randol Alan Bass was born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1953, and is active mainly in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area, following studies in Texas and Ohio (including a Masters degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music).  His arrangements and compositions have been performed and recorded by orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Pops, Buffalo Philharmonic and countless others.

The Christmas Flourish was commissioned and premiered by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 1992, and has been performed extensively by orchestras and choruses throughout the world since then.

The following carols appear without interruption in this order:

• Shiloh (by William Billings, USA 1746-1800)
• Joy to the World (melody possibly written by Handel)
• Silent Night (by Franz Xaver Gruber, Austria, 1787-1863)
• Angels We Have Heard on High (origins varied, melody arranged by Edward Shippen Barnes, USA, 1887-1958)