Electronic Artist ROB ASTOR Creates Stunning Beauty On Christmas Album
ROB ASTOR’s SHINE A LITTLE LIGHT CHRISTMAS COLLECTION Packed With Holiday Rarities
Approached to contribute music for a benefit Christmas CD, New Age/Electronica artist Rob Astor ended up recording a remarkable collection of seasonal material. The benefit CD that sparked Rob’s creativity, CHRISTMAS AMONG FRIENDS, is being released by T. S. Klugh Studios (http://www.timothysklugh.com/studio) in November 2006, and features two tracks recorded by Rob. However, this was only the beginning for Rob Astor.
Settling into the idea of recording Christmas music, Rob Astor chose tunes both familiar to him as holiday standards, and some of those lesser known as time obscures them from the listening audience’s collective memory. He didn’t want to release a complete rehash of the same music that appears seemingly every year on any given artist’s holiday collection. Rob wanted to stretch beyond the expected norm. True to form, he avoided the comfort of familiar territory. The end result is a disc packed full of stellar arrangements with warm, lush orchestration.
Rob Astor’s SHINE A LITTLE LIGHT CHRISTMAS COLLECTION is conceived with the same quality and sophistication of Rob’s electronic and semi-symphonic recordings. Rare and surprising treats abound! Feel the true holiday spirit while listening to the gorgeous orchestration of “Es Ist Eine Ros' (Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming)”. Waltz around your Christmas Tree to “Star Of The East”. Light a candle and watch the snow fall hearing the beauty of the traditional French carol “Bring A Torch, Jeanette Isabella”. Imagine yourself sitting in a cathedral on Christmas Day feeling the full power of the Renaissance through “O Magnum Mysterium” where choir parts have been assigned string and woodwind instruments, magically transforming the full Missa into something as powerful as it is uplifting. Those are just for starters.
Whet your Christmas music appetite with contemporary arrangements as well. How does an electric guitar figure into the beauty of “O, Holy Night!”? Or, how does the “Hallelujah Chorus” sound in a Southern Gospel arrangement? You’ll have to pick up the CD to find out! When you do, you will understand why it is Rob Astor continues to grow as a musician. He explores ideas and continues to expand his musical.
SHINE A LITTLE LIGHT CHRISTMAS COLLECTION totals 20 tracks. Approximately half of the titles in this package should be easily recognized. Included are some of Rob Astor’s favorite Christmas carols such as “We Three Kings” crafted into a percussion heavy string ensemble hybrid, “Ave Maria” with harp and violin trading off one another, and “Silent Night” which seems to remain silent and peaceful as the music swells.
The other half of the set includes time honored music from centuries past. Tunes such as the bouncing “In Dulci Jubilo”, the quaint “The Holly And The Ivy”, and the stirring “Coventry Carol” made more so by the addition of string layers, breathes new life in Rob Astor’s settings.
Every year, there are many fantastic Christmas collections released. This year, Rob Astor’s SHINE A LITTLE LIGHT CHRISTMAS COLLECTION should top the essentials list of most wanted stocking stuffers.
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