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We Three Kings Of Orient Are

from Carol Colors by Rudi Seitz

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This tune has an interesting structure in that it moves from minor to major and also exhibits different melodic shapes in its two halves. The arrangement here sounds to me like Baroque harpsichord music although I actually didn't have a stylistic aim in mind when I began writing it and was just doing my best to create a bass line that would contrast nicely with the melody. Technically the piece makes frequent use of suspensions (something it has in common with my arrangement of Es Ist Ein Ros).

Although typical performances of We Three Kings would probably have a laid-back approach to rhythm and feature a big pause between the first and second sections, the arrangement here is meant to be played with mechanical rhythmic precision. I came to realize what I was aiming for here because the software I used to render the music on this album can be configured to introduce subtle deviations in timing that usually make a performance sound more lifelike. Often the effect (at least at the small levels I use it on other pieces) is very subtle -- perhaps barely perceptible -- but favorable. In this case, as I listened to the initial renderings I kept feeling something was wrong but I couldn't figure out what it was. Eventually I realized that those micro-deviations in timing were the problem; quite welcome elsewhere, they detract from this piece, so I shut them off.

Working on this arrangement made me consider that many tunes have a kind of universal structure that allows them to be arranged in many different styles, and if handled well, to actually sound idiomatic to those styles. If you don't find this version unusual enough, you should know that there is another arrangement out there on the vast Internet where the composer has used voice synthesis software to "sing" We Three Kings in a nonstandard tuning, and in a synthetic language that he himself created (search for the name of that language, Tirëlat, and you should find it).

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from Carol Colors, released December 15, 2014

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Rudi Seitz Boston, Massachusetts

Rudi draws upon his passion for the counterpoint of Bach and Renaissance masters, his delight in the expressive poignancy of Schubert and Chopin, and his fascination with jazz and the musics of North and South India to craft compact works in which every note counts. Along with composing, he sings and plays guitar. Rudi lives in Boston, MA. ... more

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