The Piano Guys 2

As with their enormously popular eponymous debut album from late 2012, The Piano Guys continue to enjoy Classical Crossover success with The Piano Guys 2. The atypical quartet features not four instrumentalists but rather songwriters who play cello (Steven Sharp Nelson), play piano (Jon Schmidt), shoot and produce video (Paul Anderson), and engineer and record music (Al Van der Beek). Sharp Nelson’s percussive, partially pizzicato arrangement of Pachabel’s “Canon,” rebranded “Rockelbel’s Canon,” makes the classic sound modern. The “Charlie Brown Medley” incorporates some of late pianist/composer Vince Guaraldi’s music for animated Peanuts specials; “Linus and Lucy” and “Christmas Is Coming” have been gateways to many a jazz fan, and The Piano Guys further that effort. Fellow crossover sensation Lindsey Stirling contributes violin to a dense, dazzling take on Lalo Schifrin’s “Mission Impossible” theme, while Bruno Mars’ “Just the Way You Are” is taken at a slower, tenderhearted tempo.