BENEATH A TRAVELLING STAR:
30 contemporary carols and hymns for Christmas
By Timothy Dudley-Smith
Music editor: Lionel Dakers
Canterbury Press, Norwich
64 pages. £8.99
ISBN 1 85311 449 9
Friends of Timothy Dudley-Smith know that every Christmas over many years, this prolific writer has produced an original poem/hymn for the family Christmas card. Beneath a Travelling Star is a collection of 30 such pieces accompanied by musical settings.
If you are wondering how anyone could find so much to say on one subject, then buy the book. Every poem has its starting point or central theme, and the careful construction which is Timothy Dudley-Smith's trademark. Each one is a unique meditation on the incarnation. They stand on their own as Christmas readings. The accompanying tunes are good, but do not in every case do justice to the words. Mostly they are borrowed from other well-known hymns. Perhaps some aspiring tunesmiths could take up the challenge, and write some original contemporary tunes in the way that Michael Baughen has done with Holy Child.
It was from this book that the excellent piece 'The hush of midnight here below', published under New Music in the December issue of EN, was taken and used with permission.
Christmas has become a woolly and fuzzy occasion. These hymns with their combination of clear theology and awe and wonder expressed in beautiful English make a most welcome addition to the Christmas repertoire for choirs and congregations. They also make wonderful material for private devotions. They would make a lovely Christmas present!
