To commemorate the Winter Solstice, Paul Winter’s saxophone first reverberated through New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine in 1980. It was the start of an annual tradition that included international musicians as special guests, and the NPR broadcast of those concerts developed into a seasonal event as well. Paul Winter went through the records this year to pick his top moments from the Winter Solstice festivities spanning four decades.
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Paul Winter and Paul Halley’s “Sun Singer”
The traditional phrase “Tomorrow Is My Dancing Day”
Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Luiza” and Sergio Mendes’ “Lua Soberana”
The Bulgarian folk song “Hey Mara”
Paul Winter’s “Harvest Faire”
Franz Schubert’s “Fantasia in G”
Paul Winter and Paul Halley’s “Sun Singer”
Ralph Towner’s “Icarus”
(Arto Tunçboyacıyan) “Love Is Not In Your Mind”
James Lord Pierpont’s “Jingle Bells”
The traditional carol “Christmas Day Is Come”
The traditional “Silent Night”
Medley: “Auld Lang Syne” (traditional) / “Minuit” (Keita Fodeba, with English words by Susan Osborn and John Guth)
