My favorite choral arrangement of O Holy Night is John Leavitt's arrangement which came out a few years ago. Not difficult, with a loevely accompaniment.

 

Ron Sayer

Marshall Community Chorus

Marshall, Missouri

Ron: The arrangement of O Holy Night by Jason Olson is without question one of the most beautiful I have ever heared. It is in a very modern setting with wonderful harmonies and rhythms.

Sound Music Publications; www.smpjazz.com    You will be able to see and listen to this wonderful rendition.

Frank

I have an interesting arrangement that combines the traditional solo with the choir singing 25 carols as accompaniment. The piano part is fairly traditional. To see the music and listen to a sample go to http://musicselfpublishing.com I have placed it as the featured piece, which you will see once you get there.

John Rutter's arrangement is very true to the original. I also have an arrangement written by a member of my congregation that we have performed in the past. His work features a trumpet soloist, as that was his instrument.

Several years ago I used a simple but effective arrangement that was available on the CPDL. It worked very well for soloist, choir, and piano.

 I've used the Rutter and it's excellent, but the past two Christmases we've used Rene Clausen's excellent setting. Being Christmas Eve, I never know which soloists I have and Clausen's is all choral, straightforward enough, but with just a few beautiful R.C. touches. (a verse could easily be taken by a soloist if desired)

Hi, Heidi.

 

After reading a number of the replies, please let me speak up AS a long-time arranger.

 

I make a real effort in my vocal/choral arranging class to get across the idea that an arranger can work with and change ANY aspect of an existing song, from overall style to individual words and melodic contours.  Students have trouble understanding that fundamental point, but in my 2 seasons working for Disney my boss, Bob Jani (who was hired as Creative Vice President after Walt passed away), told his staff, "Every day when you drive in to work, try to see at least 3 things in an entirely new way"!

 

BUT, at the same time I feel pretty strongly that there are some songs that have achieved such iconic status, for whatever reason, that I would hesitate and give serious thought to it before I messed around with them very much.  One of those is the Star Spangled Banner, which in spite of the current fad of badly-stylized rock and soul renditions is very close to sacred for a vast majority of one's audience, and should not be messed up for no good reason.  So my SATB arrangement of it is distinctive and can stand alone without accompaniment, but can also be sung with virtually ANY common band arrangement in Bb major.

 

And I would put "O Holy Night" in that same category.  It's one piece that I would NOT, ever, mess with beyond scoring it for the given ensemble and accompaniment, because people's expectations are not just musical but emotional.  Within the existing style, of course, I will be as creative as I can be, but I would never change that existing style.

 

Your mileage may well differ.

 

John