December 2017
For the holiday season, Steinway & Sons Spirio offers our version of the celebrated holiday classic A Charlie Brown Christmas.
A Fats Domino Tribute, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Puccini’s La bohème
This iconic holiday soundtrack, written by Vince Guaraldi for the classic TV special, is now available to Spirio listeners performed by Guaraldi’s musical successor, Steinway Artist David Benoit. Along with an extended set of Guaraldi’s Christmas music — which includes Benoit additions to the Peanuts specials — we feature a Spirio Sync video of clips from the show accompanied by David’s live performance from Steinway Hall.
Fats Domino (1928–2017), pioneer of rock 'n' roll, also has a successor in the thoroughly authentic style of Steinway Artist Davell Crawford, the 'Piano Prince of New Orleans.' Crawford had a close relationship with Fats Domino, and Crawford's set of Domino classics was recorded during an inspired session last month.
We bring a seasonal focus to one of the world's most popular operas, Puccini’s La bohème, the first act of which takes place on Christmas Eve in Paris. Our pianist is Valeria Polunina, from the Metropolitan Opera, whose intimate connection to the score comes from the many hours of rehearsing with the singers for the current production at the Met. Opera lovers will be able to sing along to our extended Spirio excerpts!
This month we are also pleased to present the music of Ryan Cayabyab, an enormously popular composer and performer in the Philippines. His music for television and film is set in a popular style, and has been enjoyed worldwide. (The Coconut Nut will likely be familiar to anyone who has sung in an American high school chorus.)
Finally, we offer more holiday music, including some new, gentle tracks for Christmas from jazz pianist and Steinway Artist Meral Guneyman, a Christmas carol sing-along set, Christmas Cocktails, Christmas at Steinway Hall, and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker.