Nigel Hess on Silent Nights

Nigel Hess, arranger of the carols on Classic FM’s Christmas album Silent Nights, tells Classic FM about his inspiration for the album.

"It was triggered by something that happened last year - we were having a dinner party, and I just sat at the piano and started doodling away, improvising around some Christmas carols. Everybody really loved it and said if you did a CD of this we'd go out and buy it."

Silent Nights provides a rare opportunity to hear the composer play the piano, and he’s accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s string section. He says the album is perfect if you “just want to wind down… you really can just let it float over you, and because there are no vocals I think it means that it’s easier to conjure up your own images about what the music means to you”.

Listen to the interview with Nigel now