The basic idea behind Eroica Classical's Sacred Hymns, featuring Massachusetts-based pianist
Edward Wood, is a good one: a selection of hymns in solo piano versions, with a little bit of elaboration and arranging, to result in a program that is spiritual and relaxing. However, several aspects of this project were either not completely thought out or merely left as loose ends for the sake of expediency, and they conspire to spoil the broth. The recording, made at Our Lady of Jasna Gora Church in Clinton, MA, is furry, constricted, and indistinct, and
Wood's piano has an audible "hiccup" in the middle register. The latter issue, of course, didn't stop
Glenn Gould from going forward, and
Wood shares more than a little of
Gould's eccentricity in interpreting
E. Power Biggs' transcription of Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale prelude on "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"; it is slow, rigid in articulation, and borders on amateurishness. There are moments when
Wood's sense of taste and restraint yields dividends, as in his rendering of Handel's "For unto Us a Child is Born" and Schubert's "Holy is the Lord." However, his stormy reading of Schubert's "The Almighty" comes off like sub-silent movie pianism.
These hymns derive from works of standard classical composers and, as hymns, some are considerably less familiar than others. The inclusion of a couple of plain old familiar hymns in this program, something of Lowell Mason (apart from his arrangement of Handel), William B. Bradbury, Fanny Crosby, or anybody of that ilk would have been welcomed. The addition of an obscure piano transcription by Louis Winkler of the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony -- containing, of course Beethoven's "Ode to Joy," which has been fashioned into several hymns -- is a novel idea. At 22 and a half minutes, however, it is way too long and throws the program off balance, and there are several points within the performance where
Wood's playing descends into chaos, something that could have been cured through retakes and some judicious editing.
In the concert scene,
Edward Wood does enjoy a reputation as a good pianist, and the sad thing about Eroica Classical's Sacred Hymns is that it makes him sound like no more than a very talented amateur. While performances like these might well work live in the fellowship hall after service, they probably won't go over as successfully in one's listening room. It is a pity that Eroica Classical didn't take more time to get decent sound and secure better performances before going forward with Sacred Hymns.