The Cambridge Road Ensemble

I've had the wonderful opportunity to create two Christmas CDs with my extended family.  If you've read my background, you know I come from a musical family, and this was a fantastic way to come together, even though it was recorded long-distance at times-in Wisconsin, Illinois, Tennessee, and...Norway.  Yup, Mark, my oldest brother, would record his woodwind parts in his Norwegian home, mail a disk to me, and  he'd get edited and mixed here!  If you like what you hear, you can get a copy here or at the iTunes Store under “Cambridge Road Ensemble”.

Carol of the Bells

I really enjoyed putting a new twist on a great carol.

Kurt: all arrangement, production, instruments and voices, with additional guitar from brother Paul.

Wexford Carol

Julie Andrews sang this on one of my favorite Christmas albums growing up.  Such a haunting melody.  What a joy to have my daughter join this arrangement on horn- my goal was to create an arrangement that equally featured the horn and Irish whistles.

Kurt: all arrangement, production, and instruments, with the addition of Gretchen- horn, and Paul- guitar.

Angels We Have Heard on High

I grew up hearing the pipe organ at church every Sunday, and have always found the majesty of organ and brass an awe-inspiring sound.  Having listened to recordings like this for decades, we set out to capture that sound, but with the challenge of recording parts individually in our home studios, without the benefit of a large church space or pipe organ.  I've got a great pipe organ sample library that was put through its paces on this arrangement.

Kurt: production, pipe organ editing, trumpet, valve trombone, wind controller (tuba)

Gretchen: French horn

Paul: trumpet, piccolo trumpet

Ruth (sister-in-law): MIDI pipe organ

Arrangement: Mark (brother), Ruth, Paul, Kurt

Hark, The Herald Angels Sing

I love working with my brother's arrangements- he's been a good influence on me!  Here he's taken a very familiar tune and placed sections of it into the uncommon time-signature of 5/4 and still makes it work!  You'll find a woodwind ensemble in this section- note that other than the flute and one clarinet, all parts are covered by my wind controller playing different woodwind emulations.

Kurt: production, trumpet, valve trombone, wind controller (oboe, English horn, clarinet, bassoon, tuba, piccolo trumpet)

Paul: trumpet, piccolo trumpet

Gretchen: French horn

Mark: flute

Arrangement: Mark, Kurt, Ruth

All photos ©2009 Kurt Heinecke