The piece I decided to pick for arrangement comparisons was "Carol of the Bells" by Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych, a Ukranian composer who got the theme for the song from a traditional Ukranian New Year's chant.
The first arrangement I found was an arrangement for piano by George Winston. He has the same theme and adds ornamentation on descending notes in one part. This version is played rather slowly compared to other versions that are played quite fast. It's a very pretty arrangement of this famous Christmas song.
The second arrangement I found was an arrangement by guitarist Steven King for acoustic guitar. He has an unusual introduction, but is still beautiful. He has a jazzy approach in about the seventh measure and has an overall faster tempo than that of the first arrangement. I liked the guitar version because it had a more mellow sound than the piano (even though both were played very well.)
The third arrangement I found was a vocal rendition done by the group Celtic Woman. They had an orchestra and a solo violinist who ran around playing the violin very fast. They had a choir sing with the four singers and had an introduction that was more traditional than the guitarist's. The violin player added her own harmonies and ornamentations as the song went on and had solo parts that acted almost as a fifth voice. What I liked most about this arrangement was that it lent itself for more harmonies since there were more instruments involved and voices.
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