Reviewed by Tom Lennie

It takes something quite special for an instrumental praise recording to stand out from the pack. This 'Solo Piano' output (which dates back to 2003) is part of a series of Classical Praise discs released by Discovery House Music in Grand Rapids, Missouri. The nine piano pieces on this set were arranged and performed by Patricia Spedden, professor of music at Huntington College, Indiana. The concept is ingenuous. Ms Spedden carefully selects a modern worship chorus and matches it with a popular hymn. She then places both in the setting of an appropriate piece of ear-catching classical music. Thus we have, for example, "As The Deer"/"My Jesus, I Love Thee" embedded in a gentle and melodic sampling of Debussey's "Arabesque No 1 in E Major". It takes musical genius to combine these differing music forms so seamlessly and gracefully, but this performer meets the task magnificently, her keyboard skills also being exemplary. The album works wonderfully as background music or as chillout or 'soaking' material, but is best appreciated when listened to more attentively. Helpfully, some interesting info is provided on each of the classical texts chosen. This is a beautiful album - my sole whinge being that it lasts only 34 minutes.

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