Description
A Chui – a favorite Christmas carol
Arranged by Richard Arnest for Piccolo, 4 C Flutes and Alto Flute
Published by Music Under Construction
Includes score and parts
Note:
I've always liked this tune. It works very well for voices, and I have heard a few early music instrumental versions that have knocked my socks off. When Laura (Schulkind) approached me about arranging it for a group of her flute students, I jumped at the chance.
As an arranger, I get to do some things that are not typically done in either of the contexts I just mentioned. But they are fun though, and sound well. So: there's an assymetrical line that soars over the melody. A couple of sections of 'Renaissance ornamentation' that I don't have to justify as having roots in Ganassi, and a 'chorale' coda which brings the harmonized tune in augmentation together with a nice dovetail to the return of the flute line and the theme in diminution at the close. I had fun… I think you will, too.
I had fun with the name, also. Riu riu chiu (Number 41 in the Cancionero de Uppsala) is sufficiently well known. The present name recalls a present bout with the flu…” – Richard Arnest