Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Although this CD is billed as the 'Ultimate Hymn Collection' the pedant in me has to question this. A hymn, so far as I understand it, is a song in praise of God so, by this definition, an instrumental hymn is an oxymoron. Curiously, the scanty track listing credits all the lyricists for the sixteen hymn tunes even though we hear not a word. Of far more importance for the success or failure of this disc are the arrangers. There is little point in the orchestra playing all the verses through unless this is to be a sacred karaoke collection so we need the music to go somewhere. There are two orchestras featured here: The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Joni McCabe contribute five hymns and The Eden Symphony Orchestra seemingly without a conductor give us eleven. Strangely, I could not tell the two orchestras apart on a random shuffle. The Eden contribution is arranged by Simon Leyton and those from Prague by Keith Getty. And that, other than the titles, is all I can tell you dear reader as that is all the information contained on the sleeve. We have sixteen hymn tunes, fourteen of which were known to this reviewer (the two ones new to me being "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" by the prolific Chas H. Gabriel and "Wonderful, Merciful Saviour" by Dawn Rogers and Eric Wyse). Musically this is pleasant enough but I worry when great hymns are reduced to easy listening. Sometimes I found myself singing along but some of the arrangements while being technically proficient became too irregular to get the words in, at least on a first listen. At points we get close to muzak but, by and large, there is sufficient invention to keep our attention so if the thought of hearing orchestral versions of "Be Thou My Vision", "Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus", and another fourteen hymns fills you with joy (as in "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" which is included) then think about buying this.

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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