Customer Reviews

Hymns with a Classical Touch

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Beautiful piano solos that intertwine hymns with classical favorites. Titles: Amazing Grace (In the setting of Grieg's Morning Mood, Peer Gynt Suite No. 1) Come, Thou Fount (In the setting of Tchaikovsky's Concerto, Op. 23) Crown Him with Many Crowns (In the setting of J.S. Bach's Prelude in D Major) Great is Thy Faithfulness (In the setting of Liszt's Liebestraum) Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah (In the setting of J.S. Bach's Fugue No. 2, from the Well-tempered Clavier, Vol. 1) I Surrender All (In the setting of Beethoven's "Pathetique" Sonata, Adagio Cantabile) It is Well with My Soul (In the setting of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata) Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee (In the setting of J.S. Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring) Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee (In the setting of Handel's Prelude in G) Moment by Moment (In the setting of Saint-Saëns' Le Cygne) The Lord's My Shepherd (In the setting of Handel's Largo)
Level: moderate difficulty. (Piano grade 4-5)

This book is everything I was hoping for and more! Cindy Berry seamlessly blends well-known classical pieces into hymns. There is more than just a hint of the classical piece in each solo. In fact, though it varies somewhat from solo to solo, for the most part she gives equal time to the classical piece and the hymn. She also includes the words to the hymn so that the pianist can think about the message of the hymn and focus their thoughts on worship as they play. And the words are placed at the top of the page instead of within the music so that they do not distract the eye from reading the notes. My only caution regarding this book is that the level of difficulty on some of the pieces is higher than I expected for a book rated "intermediate." Some of the pieces are indeed intermediate, but some are advanced. If you love classical piano and hymns, you will not be disappointed by this book!

Cindy Berry does another masterful job of blending a timeless classic with equally timeless hymn. As with her other books, she begins each piece with the classical piece, before cleverly weaving in the hymn tune, while still maintaining the feel of the classic. Intermediate difficulty. Great for almost any occasion! She includes a variety of quiet and lively.

I purchased this piano book for my wife, who is impressed with
Cindy Berry's clever arrangements of classical and hymn music.
As an accomplished pianist she found the music to be difficult,
not moderately difficult as stated on the cover. Unfortunately
we had to return this book.

I am aware I'm not actually reviewing this product, as I would
normally do...simply wanted to make a general statement to those
who might be considering making a purchase.

Cindy Berry also arranged the "What to play on Sundays',series
which gets two thumbs up from most pianists. Sold by Amazon.

I love classical music. I love hymns. I've been a church pianist for three decades. I do not like these arrangements.

I sight read through nearly the whole book and gave up. Every piece is essentially a classical piece with a light sprinkle of a hymn motif. Every time the hymn motif shows up (which is only a small part of the whole song), I feel jarred. I think it is due to the imbalance between the classical portion and the hymn portion. There is just too much of the song that is purely classical. When the hymn motif shows up, it creates a little shock. They are not well blended.

Hope this review is helpful.

My oldest daughter plays for church occasionally, and she thought this might be a good mix between classical and hymnody, but she did not like any of the pieces she tried. She thought, and I agreed, that they sounded a little ugly.

This is a great innovative way to mix or blend the beauty of hymns with the mightiness of classical music. Really creative, beautiful but honestly need a little (may be a little bit understated to say a little bit ;p) more intense pracitce to master it but again it all depends to who is playing it. Overall it's a great book especially for the prices at Amazon.

I've enjoyed using this book. I play for a Unitarian Universalist fellowship, and often look for music that is appropriate but not overly religious. This book finds that balance.