Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

This is a whole lot of fun although purists who get twitchy when Nigel Kennedy plays Hendrix or The Beach Boys borrow "Jesu Joy of Man's Desire" as the introduction to "Lady Lynda" may wish to look away now. The Piano Guys' story is worth a read and their website is well worth a visit (www.thepianoguys.com) but to cut a long story . . . professional pianist Jon Schmidt was preparing for a concert in a small town in Utah. Looking for somewhere to rehearse he popped into a piano shop named The Piano Guys and found the owner only too pleased to help. Indeed, the owner, Paul Anderson, had been thinking about promoting his store through YouTube. Schmidt brought in his long standing friend Steven Sharp Nelson, a versatile cello player and sometime songwriter. Add helpful neighbour Al van der Beek, another songwriter who just happened to have a recording studio built in his house, and the show could start. Some would see these meetings as coincidence but the guys are all believers (Latter Day Saints, for the record) who see God at work in everything and gladly give him the glory. TPGs specialise in quirky arrangements that fuse the contemporary and classical repertoires and promote the music with imaginative and very popular videos. If ever you wondered what "Titanium" would sound like if mixed with Faure's "Pavane" you have come to the right place - and the answer is that it works much better than you might expect. And the same goes for "Over The Rainbow" and "Simple Gifts" (the Shaker song popularized by Aaron Copland and borrowed by Sidney Carter for his folk hymn "Lord Of The Dance"). Throughout the 65 minutes of this album there are surprises and delights, whether it is Adele's "Rolling In The Deep" with a touch of Holst or Johann Sebastian Bach's hitherto unheard "Celtic Song" or "Bring Him Home" from 'Les Mis' or, well, there are 16 pieces here and each one made me smile.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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