Festive Piece on "Simple Gifts" for piano, four hands. - book review

American Music Teacher, August-Sept, 2002 by Arno Drucker

arranged by Joseph M. Martin. GlorySound/Shawnee Press, Inc. (49 Waring Dr., P.O. Box 690, Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327), 2002. 10 pp., $9.95. Advanced.

Inspired by the occasion of the arranger's twentieth wedding anniversary and certainly the worlds "my gift from the Lord," this short (five pages for each part) four-hand composition reflects the compositional style.

The piece has frequent half-step upward modulations, as well as a generally exhilarating and fervent celebratory mood. Beginning in F major and ending triumphantly in D major with double thirds, augmentation and diminution of the familiar melody, this version of "Simple Gifts" is far from the original Shaker tune composed in 1848 by Shaker Elder Joseph Brackett, Jr. Usually performed as a round, the Martin version begins with an imitative use of the theme for an introduction followed by several variations. Perhaps the most famous use of this melody is in Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring." Copland does it far better. The simple beauty and joy of this melody are embarrassingly "modernized" in the Martin version. If your tastes run to this genre, you will certainly enjoy playing this not-too-difficult work for moderately advanced pupils.

The fine clarity of the printing and the high quality of the paper are commendable, but the enigmatic metronome marking (quarter note=ca.) [no number] only in the upper part, is surely an oversight. Frankly, the price seems high, but the market for this type of work will probably be willing to pay it. Reviewed by Arno Drucker, Baltimore, Maryland.