All Holiday Titles • Secular Holiday • Sacred Holiday • Works with Orchestra
Joy to the World: a Christmas Suite
Ryan James Brandau interweaves his innovative, beautifully orchestrated carol arrangements with your choice of holiday selections from Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Bach’s Magnificat, and/or Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Check out the existing versions below, create your own using the titles you want!
The arrangements of Joy to the World: a Christmas Suite were created with both professional and amateur orchestras in mind. They are designed to allow professional orchestras to deliver outstanding performances on minimal rehearsal and allow amateur orchestras to shine with professional-level polish. They feature fun-to-play, idiomatic passagework and attractive solos for nearly every instrument and section while avoiding difficult shifts, hard-to-tune keys, sustained bridge tones, and other pitfalls. The instrumentation does not require triple winds or significant auxiliary personnel but instead maximizes the impact of a medium-sized orchestra. It is designed to balance with string sections of varying sizes, from chamber to full professional symphony orchestra. All parts are fully bowed and articulated, with helpful cues after all long rests.
Instrumentation: 2.2(Eng hn).2(bass cl).2 4.3.(3).0 timp perc (2) harp piano strings
Duration: ~70-75 minutes (two-act version)
Click below to see complete set lists and instrumentation
“Ryan Brandau’s captivating holiday arrangements are in a class by themselves. They engender joy and beauty with their unique orchestrations and beautiful choral word painting. I’ve had the pleasure of playing these inventive arrangements for years and they are unfailingly gratifying.”
“Your beautiful arrangement was the hit of the concert. The audience loved it. The singers and orchestra loved it. The you for the care and craft of this set. It will become part of the Cincinnati tradition.”
“Each year, I look forward to performing holiday arrangements by Ryan Brandau. They are beautifully composed and feature lush harmonizations that add new depth to familiar melodies. The parts are idiomatic for each instrument and are a pleasure to play. I highly recommend these arrangements: They’re a joy for performers and audiences alike.”