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On Christmas Night
Irving Berlin, John Pierpoint, Franz Xaver Gruber

Ralph Rousseau / Lenny Kuhr

On Christmas Night

Price: € 12.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917234022
Catnr: CC 72340
Release date: 02 October 2009
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Label
Challenge Classics
UPC
0608917234022
Catalogue number
CC 72340
Release date
02 October 2009
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN
NL
DE

About the album

After 2008, when his first CD was issued on the Challenge label, the career of viola da gamba player Ralph Rousseau took off. On that CD, ‘Chansons d’Amour’ he plays – with the Matangi String Quartet and bassist Hein Van der Geyn – French chansons ranging from Marin Marais to Jacques Brel. Chansons d’Amour has become a bestseller in The Netherlands and also in countries abroad Rousseau becomes more and more visible.

Ralphs and Lenny's cooperation began with the presentation of the cd Chansons d'amour, where Lenny was handed out the first cd officially and where she sang with Ralph and the stringquartet Cent Mille Chansons of Frida Boccara. Lenny Kuhr had won the Eurovision Songcontest in 1969 and is a celebrity in the Netherlands. Ralph and Lenny have a musical chemistry and this is very clear on this cd.

The most part of this cd is full of wonderful arrangements for solo viola da gamba, played by Ralph Rousseau. First Ralph made a number of English traditionals that were scarcely known in the Netherlands, songs like On Christmas Night all Christians sing and The Lord at first did Adam make. There was also an old Dutch song that almost nobody knew: Laat nu alle droefheid vluchten [Let Now All Sadness Flee]. When Ralph organized his own Christmas concert a couple of years ago with those traditionals alternating with Baroque pieces, which has since become his trademark, it was a success. people started to ask for the material on cd. Some more solo-arrangements where made by Ralph and the cd was a fact.

Ralph: “The alternation of instrumental and vocal music adds something extra to the CD. Still, the music isn’t too prominent. I think we’ve struck a wonderful balance.”
Lenny Kuhr: “We also have musical similarities. I very much want to ‘sing’ with the viola da gamba. It’s no accident that people in the 17th century said that the gamba, of all instruments, comes closest to the human voice. In addition, I love the song genre and want to convey emotion.” Lenny adds: “I’ve always loved the viola da gamba, even before I knew Ralph. The instrument immediately evokes centuries inside you, I think. And it clicked right away with Ralph and me; we are both delighted by each other’s talent.”Their pleasure at making music together is audible on this Christmas CD.

The Christmas melodies on this cd have such purity, a directness that’s lacking in some classical music, an unspoiled quality. Everyone had to be able to sing the Christmas songs, so the melodies are simple, never getting too involved. It is this very quality that gives them that terse beauty that takes hold of you.

Kerstliederen zo puur en simpel, dat je ze mee wilt en kunt zingen
De viola da gambaspeler Ralph Rousseau en zangeres Lenny Kuhr spelen en zingen hier verstilde kerstmuziek. Het grootste deel van de opname bestaat uit prachtige arrangementen voor solostukken voor de viola da gamba, de Italiaanse benaming voor een beenviool. De kerstmelodieën zijn zo onbedorven, zo puur en direct, iets wat je maar zelden tegenkomt in de klassieke muziek. De melodieën zijn simpel, niet te ingewikkeld en makkelijk mee te zingen. Juist daardoor zijn ze van een bondige schoonheid, die je meeneemt en raakt.

Lenny Kuhr, bekend van haar winnende lied De Troubadour op het songfestival van 1969, en Ralph Rousseau vormen een uitstekend duo. Het plezier waarmee ze samen muziek maken spat ervan af en is duidelijk hoorbaar. Ralph: "De afwisseling van instrumentale en vocale muziek voegt iets extra's toe aan dit album. Tegelijkertijd is de muziek niet te opdringerig. "Lenny: "We hebben muzikale overeenkomsten. Ik wilde dolgraag met de viola da gamba zingen. Ik hield al van het instrument, nog voor ik Ralph kende." Ralph Rousseau nam voor dit album eerst enkele, in Nederland nauwelijks bekende, traditionele Engelse kerstliederen op, zoals On Christmas Night all Christians sing en The Lord at first did Adam make. Ook voegde hij een oud onbekend Nederlands lied toe: Laat nu alle droefheid vluchten. Het album bevat verder bekende Nederlandse kerstklassiekers en Engelse carolls.

Nadat de Nederlandse gambist Ralph Rousseau (1967) in 2008 zijn eerste album Chansons d’Amour uitbracht, nam zijn carrière een vlucht. Op dat album speelt hij Franse chansons met het Matangi String Quartet en bassist Hein Van der Geyn. Hij won er de Edison Klassiek Publieksprijs mee en het album werd een bestseller in Nederland. Ook in andere landen komt Rousseau steeds meer in beeld.
Der niederländische Gambenspieler Ralph Rousseau und die Sängerin Lenny Kuhr präsentieren hiermit ein Album mit beliebten Weihnachtsliedern. Dabei wechseln sich Instrumentalversionen mit Gambe solo mit vier Liedern ab. Lenny Kuhr wurde 1969 international bekannt, als sie mit dem selbst geschriebenen Lied 'De troubadour' den Eurovision Song Contest für die Niederlande in Madrid gewann. Ralph Rousseau erhielt 2009 für seine Challenge-Produktion 'Chansons d'amour' (CC72305) den EDISON Publikumspreis. Im Juni 2009 erschien die CD 'Gambomania' (CC72334) mit Werken von Marais, Hume, Abel u.a.

Artist(s)

Ralph Rousseau

Versatility, drive, talent and charm, character traits Ralph Rousseau possesses in overabundance. Ralph’s taste in music cannot be pigeonholed. For him, there are only two kinds of music: good and bad. He played in rock and jazz bands, and in classical orchestras. He studied physics, combining it after the first year with a conservatory education in the double bass. He completed both cum laude, and not long after got his doctorate in physics. Still, he chose music. It was as a double bass player with the Concertgebouw Orchestra that he got to know the viola da gamba. Everything suddenly fell into place. “I was struck by the sound, the possibilities, the chords.” Ralph has become a veritable ambassador for the...
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Versatility, drive, talent and charm, character traits Ralph Rousseau possesses in overabundance. Ralph’s taste in music cannot be pigeonholed. For him, there are only two kinds of music: good and bad. He played in rock and jazz bands, and in classical orchestras. He studied physics, combining it after the first year with a conservatory education in the double bass. He completed both cum laude, and not long after got his doctorate in physics. Still, he chose music. It was as a double bass player with the Concertgebouw Orchestra that he got to know the viola da gamba. Everything suddenly fell into place. “I was struck by the sound, the possibilities, the chords.” Ralph has become a veritable ambassador for the instrument. He has arranged many pieces for it. His affinity with the instrument also has a precedent in his name. “Rousseau is my mother’s last name. Her family traces back to 18th century France, around the time that the famous musicologist Jean Rousseau wrote a method for the viola da gamba. His book, from 1687, is a standard work that is reprinted and used even today. The name Rousseau and the viola da gamba are thus interlinked.”
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Lenny Kuhr

Lenny KuhrLenny Kuhr (1950) won the Eurovision Song Contest at age 19 with De Troubadour, a song she had written herself. It was the beginning of a career that continues today.  After the contest, she got a recording contract in France. She made a number of singles and one LP (with the popular boys’ choir Les Poppys), scored hits in France and Canada, was invited by Georges Brassens to go on a theater tour with him, and won awards for France at international festivals in Chile and Mexico.   Still, her heart’s desire remained writing and performing her own songs, which were at their best in her native Dutch. She gave up her contract and set out in the Netherlands – where her...
more
Lenny KuhrLenny Kuhr (1950) won the Eurovision Song Contest at age 19 with De Troubadour, a song she had written herself. It was the beginning of a career that continues today. After the contest, she got a recording contract in France. She made a number of singles and one LP (with the popular boys’ choir Les Poppys), scored hits in France and Canada, was invited by Georges Brassens to go on a theater tour with him, and won awards for France at international festivals in Chile and Mexico. Still, her heart’s desire remained writing and performing her own songs, which were at their best in her native Dutch. She gave up her contract and set out in the Netherlands – where her talent was recognized with an Edison Award – on a long career as a singer/songwriter.
In 1980 she had her greatest hit, “Visite,” which she recorded with Les Poppys. The corresponding album hit gold.
Typical of Lenny Kuhr is her unique Fado-like voice and her compositions’ many changes of meter and tempo. Her work is also distinguished by its large measure of spirituality. Kuhr likes to avoid the beaten path as a singer/songwriter. Her work with Ralph Rousseau on this album and a theater program before are examples. In 1993 her career was brutally interrupted when she lost her voice. After more than a year, and only when she had resigned herself to the possibility that she might never sing again, did her voice slowly return. She resumed recording, but it would be nearly 10 years before she was strong enough to perform in theaters again.
In 1997 she made a highly successful Schubert album with the lyrics translated into Dutch. In 2001 she released her Fado album, an ode to Amalia Rodrigues.
Since 2002 she has toured the Netherlands and Belgium with theater programs. In 2007 she celebrated her 40th anniversary as an artist with a live double CD and touring with that material. She has made 25 albums. She has been made a lady of the realm by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix.

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Often bought together with..

Anonymous
Kerstspel
Nieuw Vocaal Amsterdam / Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra / Ton Koopman
Johann Sebastian Bach
Weihnachts-Oratorium
Combattimento Consort Amsterdam

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