I found an on-line review of The Christian Life Hymnal by David Baker in THE ORGAN recently.
This North American-published collection of 641 hymns combines old and new in a useful anthology that will complement hymnals with a more UK-centric approach. There are many popular tunes and texts from this side of the Atlantic, but a good many also that were unknown to me that could usefully be added to the repertoire of the church choir (as simple anthems) if not the congregation. The hymnals compilers have adopted a policy of relatively low keys for most of the tunes; this will be useful to the organist who finds transposing a challenge and also congregations that would welcome a less stretching range, especially when it comes to the treble. I certainly find modern worship songs in particular pitched too high for the average male voice. This edition might encourage more men to join in the singing! The edition is well printed, though the compact layout at times caused me problems, given that the texts are typically printed between the two staves. However, once one gets used to the arrangement, it is actually quite convenient. The various indices are also useful, though the type size was far too small in places, and (magnifying) glasses will be required. This is nevertheless a useful addition to the hymnal corpus, even though I would expect its usefulness to be relatively limited in most churches. DB
Copyright Musical Opinion Limited May-Jul 2007
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