Excitement of yuletide enlivens pianist Paul Sullivan taps childhood for CD

ELLSWORTH – Pianist Paul Sullivan remembers the wee hours of Christmas morning back in his family home in Boston. It was a dark and magical time, waking up before his parents, tiptoeing wide-eyed and sure-footed down the stairs.

“Every single one of us were kids, and for every single one of us who grew up in our family homes, we know that life begins in the pitch black of Christmas morning,” said Sullivan. “What else would get us revved up on one of the darkest nights of the year? I love that contrast of black, cold winter nights and kids being aflame.”

The image is one the singer-songwriter tapped into for “4:30 AM,” a lively composition written for “Yuletide,” his most recent recording of 10 Christmas songs. In addition to Sullivan’s original work, the CD also features traditional Christmas songs such as “What Child Is This?” “We Three Kings,” and “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” all of which will be featured in a concert Sunday at The Grand Auditorium in Ellsworth.

“Yuletide” is Sullivan’s second holiday compilation, developed after years of performing many of the same holiday songs over and over again at concerts.

“I had to go farther afield for this one,” said Sullivan, who lives in Blue Hill and performs both in Maine and throughout the country. “Musically speaking, songs like ‘Up on the Rooftop’ have a simple melody but don’t go anywhere. These [on the new recording] are a bit more challenging. It was not so much my favorites, but songs that had more musical possibility.”

And more musicianship. In addition to Sullivan, the new CD highlights the talents of local artists, including percussionists Cynthia Brooks Bastide and Bill Friederich, cellist Elizabeth Brunton and flutist Karen Dickes. Eugene Friesen, a Vermont cellist and Sullivan’s colleague from his longtime work with the Paul Winter Consort, joined the group, too. Their contributions helped create a trainlike “Good King Wenceslas” and a jig-style “St. Nick’s Hornpipe,” as well as brightly textured renditions of other well-known tunes.

“I wanted to so something lively,” said Sullivan. “A lot of Christmas music is background, wallpaper music. Decorating the tree is a good use for it. But my own restlessness was at work here. I wanted to do something that if you chose to sit down and listen to it carefully, it would be rewarding.”

The most special guest performer on the CD goes back to Sullivan’s own magical sense of the holiday. His 11-year-old son, Henry, who will also perform at the Ellsworth concert, has a special finger cymbal part in “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”

“It’s a glorious solo spot,” said Sullivan cheerily and proudly.

Paul Sullivan and his friends will perform a holiday concert at 2 p.m. Sunday Dec. 7 at The Grand Auditorium in Ellsworth. For more information and tickets, call 667-9500 or toll-free (866) 363-9500.