ArtistYear Rec.Album TitleCoverYear Rel.Format
101 Strings1958The Glory Of Christmas1988CD
101 Strings1997Deck The Halls*1997CD
101 Strings1997Sleigh Ride*1997CD
101 Strings1998Winter Wonderland 2 CD*1998CD
101 Strings2006Thomas Kinkade – Treasury Of Christmas 3 CD*2006CD
101 Strings2010Christmas Favorites 2 CD*2010CD

* These have not been cataloged yet and the years of recording are likely to change.

The concept of the 101 Strings Orchestra was conceived in 1957, and the first few releases contained recordings previously released by The New World Orchestra and The Rio Carnaval Orchestra but repackaged as the 101 Strings.  The franchise also had their own in-house staff arrangers to write original songs and the orchestral arrangements of popular hits .  After 1958, most of the early albums were performed by the Orchester des Nordwestdeutschen Rundfunks Hamburg, conducted by Wilhelm Stephan.

 After being sold in 1964, the new owner moved the franchise to London and increased the recorded output immensely.  101 Strings albums were orchestral arrangements of popular music, featuring arrangements of current hits that appealed to the older generations.  The last original 101 Strings Orchestra album was released in 1981.  After that, all releases were repackaged compilation albums and/or material recorded by other orchestras.

Interestingly enough, the 101 Strings Orchestra released only one Christmas LP during their original existence, the album titled, “The Glory Of Christmas”, released in 1958.  There is a ton of 101 Strings Christmas albums and CDs out there, but since all of these were released after 1981, these are either compilation albums, or albums released under the 101 Strings name, but recorded by other orchestras.

I will need to catalog and listen to the songs I have in my collection to be able to give an accurate year of recording to them.  Any songs determined to be recorded after 1981 will have to be assumed to be recorded by other orchestras but given the 101 Strings name.  It is my intention to collect all the Christmas songs under the 101 Strings moniker, but I need to proceed cautiously so as not to overload my collection with a bunch of repeat songs.  I may never be able to collect all the 101 Strings Christmas songs, but I will try my best.  Since I have a copy of the only original 101 Strings Christmas LP, I may not pursue the challenge too deeply, since I know that any later LPs and CDs are really recorded by other orchestras.

The information included in this small post comes from the 101 Strings Wikipedia page, (101 Strings – Wikipedia)