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Our Review

On Beyond the Stillness... Christmas Treasures, music minister David Berns delivers a well-crafted group of heartfelt piano instrumentals that many will find worth treasuring. The generous album (56 minutes) presents music that is rich and contemplative without being ponderous. The mix is a classical/new age blend, and will provide rewarding "easy listening" moments for a broad audience.

I like Berns' song selection a lot. He starts with ubiquitous holiday chestnuts (Silent Night, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas), throws is some contemporary gems (Breath of Heaven, Mary, Did You Know?), tosses in two of my favorite classical pieces (Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring), and even manages to include an authentic Berns original, Beyond the Stillness to close the album. The new piece is representative of what Berns does throughout; it shines with lovely simplicity and a thoughtful, relatively slow tempo. Of the batch, I vote for Lo, How a Rose as my flower of choice; Berns' "new age" arrangement is refreshing and entirely respectful--NICE!

David Berns tells me that each sale results in a contribution to a food bank in Iowa. And isn't that what Christmas is all about? Kick back, and let Berns send some treasures your way.

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2006)

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From the liner notes:

Arrangements by David Berns (tracks 5, 8, 9)
Beyond the Stillness written by David Berns

Recorded and mixed at Grand Junction Recording Studio, Waterloo, Iowa

From correspondence with the artist:

For each sale, the artist is contributing $1 to the NorthEast Iowa Food Bank. This will effectively provide $13.31 worth of food to the community.

David Berns

Beyond the Stillness. . . Christmas Treasures

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Track List