Pentatonix, a five-member American a capella group mostly famous for their fantastic covers of global hits, recorded their version of “Shchedryk” (“Carol of the Bells”) in 2012, and many still argue ...

But it’s Williams who helped further cement “Carol of the Bells” into the holiday music vernacular when he included it in his 1992 score for “Home Alone,” which was set during Christmas.

“Carol of the Bells,” known in Ukraine as “Shchedryk,” started as a traditional Ukrainian folk chant that would probably not have found its way to a worldwide fame had Mykola Leontovych not written ...