Album Notes

The hammered dulcimer is a melodic percussion instrument. A wooden trapezoidal box crisscrossed with strings, struck with small wooden mallets, its sound is rich, clear, and resonant, reminiscent sometimes of harp, sometimes of piano.

Other instruments on this recording include guitar, recorder, fiddle, and the fiddle's wilder cousin, bowed psaltery.

Some of the pieces are familiar, such as “Silent Night” and “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” while others are new (“Fallen”) or less well-known (“The Lord at First Did Adam Make”).

Together, these tunes tell a broad story of Christmas, looking back to the Fall in Eden that Christmas promises to redeem, and looking forward to Easter when that promise was fulfilled.