Rick Wakeman and “Amazing Grace”
More than 1800 existing versions of the well-known hymn Amazing Grace, but just one of them played in “3/4+3/8” time! This is what one can hear in Rick Wakeman‘s beautiful 2 Disc DVD & CD collection Amazing Grace. http://youtu.be/z6_Ulj_CyCI Progressive rock legend Rick Wakeman seems fond of this meter–it is the same one used in the opening theme of his famous masterpiece Journey To The Centre Of The Earth (1974). Of course, you can also think the “3/4+3/8” time as a “9/8 (2+2+2+3)” mixed meter, or as a “4/4+1/8” mixed meter if you prefer. In any case, this version of Amazing Grace is another witness to Wakeman’s originality and lyrical approach to the piano. Below here, the first page of an introductory article of mine on Wakeman’s Amazing Grace, originally published in the Summer 2009 issue of the glorious Sheet Music Magazine (USA). The complete article also features my note-for-note transcriptions of various passages played in this recording. Also included in that issue of “Sheet Music Magazine” was my own solo piano arrangement of Amazing Grace, much easier than Wakeman’s yet based on his same fascinating rhythmic idea. Please write me if you are interested in these materials.
One Comment
Dulcie
I have that issue of Sheet Music magazine and i love your arrangement of Amazing Grace. I’m playing it for a very small funeral tomorrow. Always grateful that you wrote the article and did the arrangement.