Sleigh Ride

John Williams once described the American composer Leroy Anderson as ‘one of the great American masters of light orchestral music’. His Blue Tango was the first instrumental recording ever to sell a million copies, though his most famous pieces are probably The Typewriter and Sleigh Ride. The latter piece was not created as a Christmas piece but was composed during a heat wave in August 1946. Influenced by George Gershwin among other popular composers of the day, Anderson’s music often incorporates unusual instrumental effects including typewriters and sandpaper, though in Sleigh Ride he limited himself to horsey clip-clops, whip cracks and, of course, seasonal jingling bells.