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Instrumental holiday music often features the solo piano, but Karen Burgman provides something extra-special on her Love's Pure Light. Of course, Burgman is an excellent musician, tickling the ivories with high energy and style, but that's not what I'm talking about. It is her arrangements of these age-old Christmas classics that make Love's Pure Light sing.

The artist opens her release with one of two album medleys: O Come Let Us Adore Him/Come, Though Long-Expected Jesus. The interplay between the two pieces works perfectly; Burgman seamlessly weaves and overlaps the familiar melodies into one. The second track, Joy to the World, presents cascading runs, changing tempos, and surprising tone shifts to hold the listeners rapt throughout. The Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/Angels We Have Heard on High medley is another delight; initially sprightly and bright, the track morphs into the more contemplative passages and back again. In contrast, O Holy Night and Away in a Manger are more "traditional" from stem to stern; the former is replete with emotional swells and lush pauses, and the latter trembles with delicacy. And the boogie-woogie God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, perhaps my favorite cut, had me toe-tapping at my dining room table!

Every number here tells its own creative story, and I enjoyed hearing them all. My only complaint is that the 15 cuts are relatively short (averaging less than three minutes apiece; 39 minutes overall); given Burgman's stellar skills, I would have enjoyed more fully developed renditions.

Karen Burgman's Love's Pure Light provides a richly rewarding listening experience. Her piano will set the mood for just about any holiday event you plan this season, including that quiet evening at home with the family. First rate!

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2008)

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From the liner notes:

Karen Burgman, piano
All arrangements by Karen Burgman
Producer: Michael Burgman, President, Lifespring Music, LLC
Recording and Engineering: Luke Rowher
Piano Technician: John Farrell


From the Website:

Karen P. Burgman, pianist, graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory in May 2005 with a Bachelor of Music degree in performance. She has performed as a soloist in venues such as Jordan Hall, MA, Toronto Center for the Performing Arts, and Reith Recital Hall, Indiana, and she has accompanied in venues such as Carnegie Hall, New York, Jordan Hall, MA, and the Toronto Center for the Performing Arts where she performed works commissioned in her honor. She has premiered other works, including the U.S.A. premier of "Five Short Preludes" by Anthony Hopkins. Karen has also performed on early pianos at both the Finchcocks Estate Piano Collection in England and the Frederick Early Piano Collection in Massachusetts. Her principal teachers and mentors include Sandra Carlock, Sanford Margolis, Stephen Moore, Peter Slowik, Joseph Ohrt, and James Howsmon.

A frequent recitalist in Bucks County, Ms. Burgman soloed with the Bucks County Symphony Orchestra as a first place winner of the Youth Concerto Competition. Her debut CD, a collection of improvisations on hymns in various styles, was released in August 2002, and her new Christmas CD of improvisations will be released in November, 2007. Karen has also been recognized for her continued work in the area of music therapy and autism; she spent time studying an innovative approach to piano playing and autism in Warsaw, Poland in 2004. Karen was also featured on Channel 10 NBC, in December 2005 in Philadelphia, performing on the touring "Red Piano."

Karen Burgman

Love's Pure Light

Artist link

Track List