The piano-duo The O’Neill Brothers have compiled a collection of instrumental music for weddings comprised of original, classical, and pop music that they have used in the 200+ weddings they have played for over the past several years. I haven’t been to a wedding in quite a long time and have no idea of what people are doing musically these days, but the variety of the selections on this CD seems to cover most bases. A lot of the music is ensemble playing rather than just piano, adding to the variety of sounds. I’m not sure how many people who are not planning weddings would buy a CD like this, so let’s look at it from the perspective of someone who is. The CD is arranged in sections to correspond to the parts of a wedding - Prelude, Processional, Ceremony, Recessional, and Reception - and each section has 2-4 pieces to use or choose from. I really like the two original pieces, “Falling in Love” and “Reminiscent Joy,” which are piano only. The Brothers also do a really nice job with Paul Stookey’s “The Wedding Song,” which is also piano only. The classical pieces are pretty standard wedding faire, and include - “Canon in D,” “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” “Ave Maria,” and “Ode to Joy.” Pop tunes include “From This Moment On” by Shania Twain, “Forever In Love” by Kenny G, and “The Way You Look Tonight.” All of the arrangements are solid and appealing, so I think this would be a really nice collection to use either in the background on the wedding day or to help in choosing pieces to be played live. It is available from
pianobrothers.com and amazon.com.