What arrangement of What Child Is This did I hear?
December 21, 2014 10:34 AM

A few years ago I heard on a classical radio station a version of "What Child Is This" that I'd love to find again. It was for choir, either alone or possibly with piano? and the harmonies became increasingly... strange.

How strange? A bit like the ending of Manhattan Transfer's A Nightingale Sang, but definitely classical, without the jazzy feel. It sounded like a male/female choir (i.e. not boys). It wasn't Rutter's arrangement. Just very beautiful, very weird harmonies.

I know this isn't much to go on, but I am hoping the classical music hounds of AskMe will fetch.
posted by Pallas Athena to Media & Arts (4 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
Just to aid you, What Child is This is also Greensleeves. So...if you're looking on line, it might be under that appellation.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 10:37 AM on December 21, 2014


Greensleeves by Zaridash Choir?
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:02 PM on December 21, 2014


Is it this one?

YouTube gave me the above in a search for the Paul Halley arrangement, though I can't see if it actually specifies the arranger anywhere relating to the video itself. I found the Halley lead here. I searched for 'What Child is This?' arrangements with an eye out for composers in the right sort of field - there may be more if this isn't the one!
posted by lokta at 3:22 AM on December 22, 2014


Lokta, that one's beautiful, and has the right sort of weird chords, but sadly not it. Thank you for taking the time to look, though.

The recording I heard was definitely by a high-end professional classical choir, so I wonder if it wasn't some kind of one-off commission by them (whoever they were).

Thanks to everyone who's answered so far!
posted by Pallas Athena at 2:43 PM on December 22, 2014


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