For the beauty of the earth

This is an absolutely beautiful and tasteful setting of a beloved hymn. All parts sit high in their ranges, but the interplay of parts is well-balanced between unison, chordal, and descant. Piano accompaniment is also masterfully done.

This is not a beginner piece. It repeats the melody, which makes it simple, but some of the rhythms can be tricky. The melody goes quite high, so inexperienced "sopranos" might have trouble with the top notes. And some of the interplay between the voice parts will take some practice...

to get the timing right. I ordered it for a girls' choir and after one rehearsal it wasn't their favorite song, but we'll keep working on it and hopefully it will grow on them.

I ordered additional copies of this music because I was to be conducting a larger choir. I did not know until I received it that this anniversary edition is not quite the same as the previous copy. The changes make better use of the bass part . If you have used...

the previous edition you will have to reconcile the two. I love this melody as an alternative to the traditional one for this text. It has a bit of a pop feel to it -- but not in an annoying way. I would put an asterisk on the difficulty level of "Beginner." In a few places, the interplay between the voices and the rhythm may challenge a beginning choir and require a little extra rehearsal time.