Larger Works

Jonathan Rathbone
Carols for Concerts

Fresh, attractive descant arrangements and harmonies by Jonathan Rathbone breathe new life into classic Christmas Carols
Introducing a new bespoke vocal score service

• Bespoke vocal scores: select the carols you would like and we will create a set of customised vocal scores for your concert.
  

• Email Edition Peters Rental library with your chosen carols; we will provide a hire quote for your instrumental parts and a sale price for vocal scores.
  

• Every carol has the same instrumentation (1.1.1.1–1.0.0.0–Perc–Hp–Pf–Str 1.1.1.1); this year book just 13 musicians for your carol concert!

  ---

  Delivering an inspirational annual carol concert is a challenge which many choir directors relish. This year, Edition Peters has come up with an innovative solution to your choice of Christmas carols.  Jonathan Rathbone explains the creative process involved in developing these new carol arrangements, and provides invaluable, practical performance guidance:
  
  "In 2000, I was commissioned by the Rowantree Choir to write a piece for their Christmas concert to celebrate their 40th anniversary. The piece I wrote, "Night of Wonder", was about 25 minutes long - a cantata for choir, soprano soloist and small orchestra, comprising a string quartet, double bass, single wind, horn, percussion, harp and piano. Obviously I wanted this ensemble to play in the rest of the concert, but when I looked for other possible repertoire I found a problem. The slower, "pretty" carols were often available with just a string accompaniment, but the more lively and exciting pieces required a brass section, which I didn't have. In fact, every piece I looked at needed some different line-up which ultimately meant having to book a much bigger orchestra which then would not be fully used throughout the concert. In the end, I found myself penning arrangements for all the Christmas repertoire I wanted to include that year.

  The concert was very successful, and this small affordable orchestra (13 players in all) became the template for all our Christmas concerts from then on. In fact this concert has become so popular that every year I arrange new pieces for this line-up and the Rowantree Choir are now selling out two Christmas concerts each season. Being only 13 players, I have found that the orchestra fits easily into the concert venue and being a fixed size means the choir can budget safely for the concert.

  The arrangements themselves turn the carols into concert items, hence the title. Some are indeed congregational, and could well be used in a church service, but most of them use the orchestra in a more spectacular way. The accompaniment is not an organ part written out for orchestra. For example "Good King Wenceslas" starts with a snowy scene and the story unfolds, whilst "Past 3 O'Clock" starts with the alarm going off! These are definitely concert pieces.

  In addition to the traditional carols, there are arrangements of popular Christmas songs, both for choir and soloist. There are also three contrasting Christmas cantatas. "Night of Wonder" (25 mins) which tells of the birth of Christ; a light-hearted secular work entitled "Mr Fezziwig's Christmas Party" (30 mins), which takes the story from Dickens' 'Christmas Carol'; and a rather serious and moving piece entitled "Christmas Truce" (35 mins), which tells the story of the truce that broke out in the trenches on Christmas Eve, 1914.

  "The arrangements have been written with amateur choirs in mind but would work well for professional choirs who want to put on a concert with minimal rehearsal. The lines are easily read or learnt and there are no really awkward intervals or 'difficult to find' starting notes. Divisi are in line with what most choirs can manage quite easily and challenging harmony is always well supported by the orchestra.

  Over the years I have had fantastic feedback from audience and choir alike, and the overwhelming opinion has been that these arrangements have lifted the usual Christmas concert from the ordinary to the spectacular! I hope you have as much fun performing these pieces as I have had with my choirs." Jonathan Rathbone

  ---

  Jonathan Rathbone

  After training as a chorister at Coventry Cathedral and choral scholar at Christ’s College Cambridge, where he read mathematics, Jonathan rounded-off his musical education at the Royal Academy of Music with a second degree, specializing in singing and composition. Jonathan’s compositional career includes works for theatre, film, radio, television, concert platform and the church, and a song-writing contract with Noel Gay Music. Recent large-scale commissions include Requiem for a Condemned Man – an extended work for two soloists, orchestra and choir. Jonathan Rathbone was Musical Director and arranger for the Swingle Singers (1984–96) and has worked with many of the world’s leading musicians, from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Pierre Boulez to Stephan Grappelli and George Martin. He is now much in demand in Europe, the USA and UK, as a freelance choral director, arranger and workshop leader. A natural communicator, Jonathan leads workshops covering anything from close harmony singing, improvisation, choral conducting, vocal arranging to choral techniques.

Terms & Conditions

Catalogue Downloads

Request Free CD Sampler