Saturday, July 5, 2008

Christmas Suite for Orchestra - Richard Benson


It's July... Time for some Christmas tunes?

Here's a quickie, "Christmas Suite For Orchestra" by Richard Benson and Orchestra from the Reader's Digets 4-LP set Joyous Music For Christmas Time.

According to a review on Amazon of the set, Joyous Music For Christmas Time originally retailed for:
"$7.99 ($1 more if you wanted stereo.)

This album was available every year until 1973 and eventually sold over a million copies."
This almost nineteen-minute suite is a smorgasbord of your favorite carols all given fresh orchestral arrangements and recorded in pristine stereo sound. The suite was issued on CD at one point, but has now gone out-of-print. This recording is taken from the LP set.

I couldn't track down any info on Richard Benson or his orchestra, so if you know something please post in the comments!


Please enjoy: Christmas Suite for Orchestra


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10 comments:

  1. RonJuly 22, 2008 at 7:32 PM

    One of my favorites. These arrangements are the same as "Christmas Joy" & "Christmas in Hi-FI" by the(George) Melachrino Strings. I too have been trying to find the origin of these recordings and who Richard Benson is. Thanks.

    Ron

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  2. RonJuly 22, 2008 at 7:32 PM

    One of my favorites. These arrangements are the same as "Christmas Joy" & "Christmas in Hi-FI" by the(George) Melachrino Strings. I too have been trying to find the origin of these recordings and who Richard Benson is. Thanks.

    Ron

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  3. TimJuly 22, 2008 at 10:15 PM

    Thanks so much for this! This album is such a rare gem that I have to ask: what are the chances of hearing the rest of it?

    By the way, I'm one of your 'lurkers' - I pop in regularly throughout the year.

    Thanks for all the great music...keep 'em comin'!

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  4. DaveJuly 23, 2008 at 1:29 AM

    Thanks for sharing. I'm thinking Richard Benson rings a bell somehow with some of the church music we used to do when I was a teen in my home church. Seems like some of the Christmas Musicals we did came from Benson/Brentwood Publishing which I think is related to this same Benson. May be wrong though.

    Dave

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  5. PhloJuly 31, 2008 at 2:44 PM

    Wow! I've been looking for this forever, thanks so much. I'm with Tim...any chance you'll post the rest of this album?

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  6. RyanJuly 31, 2008 at 3:09 PM

    Hi folks - unfortunately this is all I have from Benson.

    The Reader's Digest compilations are usually comprised of easy-to-find vocal tracks and a few rarer ones like this Benson suite.

    Ron - I just checked and you're right. The arrangements seem to be the same as the Melachrino ones.

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  7. Frank B.August 1, 2008 at 6:16 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. Frank B.August 1, 2008 at 6:52 AM

    Thanks for the suite by Richard Benson. They were released as individual songs in the R.D. Joy To The World 3 cd set. Now I have them in medley form. Thanks again.

    Richard Benson might be an alias used by The Melachrino Strings, for Readers Digest.

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  9. Yulie2November 7, 2010 at 9:37 AM

    This collection also contains a medley by the Knightbridge Strings; it'd be nice if you could post this medley. Thanks for all your postings.

    -Frank B.

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  10. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2014 at 9:37 PM

    Je suis très heureux d'avoir trouver cette oeuvre musicale de mon enfance. La Qualité sonore est très bonne. Merci aux intervenants. J'espère qu'il y aura la suite de cet album! Merci encore.

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