I feel this album does a good job of reaching its purpose up to a point. All 12 instrumental arrangements are wonderful. There was not a song on the album that I did not like its arrangement. Each magnified the beauty and the spirit of the song. Occasionally, the musical arrangements of hymns become the focus of the song rather than the song itself. Or the arrangement disguises the song and without the album cover saying what each song is, there would be no way of figuring it out. Neither of these things happens on these albums.

The musical portrayal of each arrangement is also excellent. On the 6 songs that feature a full orchestra, the music is wonderful. Marvin Goldstein's use of the orchestra is excellent. The instruments used definitely enhance the beauty of the songs. It's amazing how each instrument, including the triangle, can really help portray the emotions of each song. In addition, the full orchestra in no way takes away from the Spirit that can be felt with each song. In addition, Marvin Goldstein's skills as a pianist are excellent. This can be seen especially well in the 6 songs that are piano only. Herein lies my only complaint about the album.

While the full orchestral accompaniment is beautiful, I feel it tends to cover up Marvin Goldstein's talent as a pianist. I love listening to a talented pianist and on the songs with full orchestra the piano really took a back seat. When I saw that some of the arrangements included full orchestra, I figured that it would be to enhance the piano music but that was not the case. The songs are still beautiful, but I would love to have heard more of the piano itself.

Would I recommend buying this album, definitely. If you are looking for an album to enhance your Sabbath, this album will do it. It will absolutely help bring the spirit in to your Sabbath day activities. However, if you are specifically looking for an album of piano music, I would recommend picking a different Marvin Goldstein album, because he is most definitely a very talented pianist. I give this album 3.5 stars. If I didn't feel that his talent as a pianist was sometimes hidden, I would have given it a 4.