Singing carols with your loved ones is one of the best parts of any holiday season.
Steven Sharp Nelson had something like that in mind, and he combined two carols into one beautiful cello piece.
Steven Sharp Nelson is best known as “The Cello Guy” of the classical new-age musical group The Piano Guys.
The man has pioneered “cello-percussion” by combining the traditional cello playing with percussive techniques. Nelson is a famous American cellist and songwriter, and he’s had a lot of success both with his band and while performing solo.
The Piano Guys have released eight number-one albums—and to top it all off, Steven has three solo albums under his belt.
Interestingly, Steven initially pursued a completely different career.
Far away from any ambitions in music, he tried his luck in the world of real estate. After becoming a successful real estate developer, Nelson played in his free time, mostly to accompany local musicians. Back then, he described his music as “an escape, and not a vocation.”
In 1999, Steven signed with Stone Angel Music, and his first solo album The Sacred Cello was released in 2006.
It was awarded a Pearl Award for Best Instrumental Classical Album. In 2011, Nelson joined The Piano Guys, and the rest is history.
“I have three children that just get giddy during December—excited each morning as they get closer and closer to Christmas Day.”
Nelson described his three children as an inspiration behind this beautiful arrangement. “The excitement is so contagious,” says Steven, adding that “it’s the kind of energy and eagerness that keeps you up at night. I wanted to capture that joy and anticipation in this arrangement.”
We love that his children’s joy inspired this piece—that’s how you know that it will be phenomenal before even listening to it.
Anyway, it’s an arrangement of two different carols, namely “Carol of the Bells” attributed to Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” a traditional English carol. They compliment each other perfectly!
The cello sound is breathtaking in this one.
Powerful, energetic, lively and simply phenomenal—we could line up similar compliments until tomorrow, but you have to listen to it to get the full idea of how catchy the combination is. The video shows Nelson playing his cello outside, in the snow.
He manages to capture all the excitement with each note he plays.
The two carols he chose collide perfectly, and we simply love that Steven’s arrangement erased all the meter differences in the two songs.It all reminds us a bit of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” theme!
The best part is the intense canon in the end, which eventually resolves in the main theme of both tunes.
The fact that the video was filmed in Salt Lake City adds something extra to its charm. Look at those beautiful locations—you’ll recognize Little and Big Cottonwood Canyon, that’s for sure.
His video got 38 million YouTube views!
“Maybe one year the Pirates franchise will make a Christmas special and this could be the theme song,” said Nelson.
One thing is certain: the video was published in 2011, and people can’t stop coming back to it.
Thank you, Steven, for creating something wonderful!
Be sure to watch the awesome performance in the link below:
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