I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Optional handchimes (Db3 to Eb 6) add a special touch to this favorite carol arranged for 3-5 octaves. The opening simulates church bells tolling away the glad news in their towers. The peal quickens and the melody enters in the mid register on chimes. The tolling resumes after a statement of the tune and serves as a transition to a key change and a broad setting of the carol in full texture. The last section is a glad cacophony of sound as if all the bell towers in the world rang together.