September 2023 – Pianodao

The Harry Potter Piano Anthology

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
Find out more: About Pianodao Reviews

The arrival of a beautifully presented new Faber Music Piano Anthology has become something of a tradition as the nights start to draw in each Autumn, and happily this year’s new collection doesn’t disappoint.

While Faber’s previous bumper books have each focused on a genre, their classical, jazz standards, pop ballads, Christmas, contemporary, soundtracks and easy piano collections all featured in the Pianodao Music Library, the latest has a more specific focus: the music of the beloved Harry Potter movie franchise.

Produced in partnership with Alfred Music, The Harry Potter Piano Anthology is a truly sumptuous affair, and promises:

“The best-loved themes from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts soundtracks magically arranged for intermediate piano solo.”

With 56 pieces, including tracks drawn from the soundtracks of all eleven movies in the franchise to date, the book is an obvious must for Potter fans, and a gorgeous gift book. Let’s take a closer look…

ABRSM • Piano Inspiration

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
Find out more: About Pianodao Reviews

ABRSM Publishing continue to focus on bringing out superb anthologies for different instruments and levels, widening the scope of developing players’ musical engagement. Their recent publishing successes for piano have included the three jazz collections Nikki Iles and Friends and the superb Pop Performer books which arrived last year.

Now they bring us two new anthologies of solo piano repertoire, curated by concert artist Isata Kanneh-Mason. These are notable collections which, for reasons I will unpack in this review, immediately rise to the top of my pile of recommended piano publications.

The first book is suitable for intermediate players in the Grade 4-6 bracket, the second for more advanced players, Grades 7-8+ (ARSM). Refreshingly, but potentially frustrating for some, the specific grade levels of the individual pieces are not stipulated, even though ABRSM twice suggest on the covers that the pieces can be used as own-choice repertoire in their Performance Grades.

Kanneh-Mason’s selections mix surprise with delight, novelty with familiar favourites, delivering an intoxicating and diverse blend of music that quite simply belongs on the piano of every player working at these levels.

Having already given a rough outline and positive verdict, I will shortly go on to list the musical contents of each book, describe the publications for the benefit of those unable to inspect them in a music store, and attempt to frame these volumes in their broader context…

Schott’s Easy Concert Duets

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
Find out more: About Pianodao Reviews

A few years ago I reviewed Schott’s Easy Concert Pieces, a series of three excellent anthologies of core classical repertoire, which progressively deliver a rich pedagogic diet of music suitable for elementary to intermediate players. Since then I have been using these cost-effective books at my studio in Milton Keynes, where they have proved especially popular with teenage and adult learners.

Now, Schott are back with a new collection, this one more suitable for early advanced players, and delivering an appealing selection of core material for piano, four hands. The book offers “20 Original Pieces from 4 Centuries”, and includes favourites by Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Bizet, Fauré, Moszkowski, Debussy and more.

With ‘social distancing’ a receding memory for most of us, this could be a great time to start exploring the duet repertoire, and this just might be the ideal collection to help us do that. Let’s find out if it is…

Trinity Piano Syllabus 2023

Educational Resources

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
Find out more: About Pianodao Reviews

The summer months routinely bring a whole new set of piano syllabus publications from one of the major exam boards, and this year it is Trinity College London’s turn.

As ever, I hope my review will explain the most important changes, give readers a first impression of the new publications, and offer some general thoughts on the repertoire selections and direction of travel.

I am going to start by stating that this is a radical update, a riot of invention, but of course that also makes it rather controversial. Questions about whether it offers a comparable and valid educational route are inevitable.

I hope in this review to point towards some answers, based on my perspective as a jobbing piano teacher. So hold on to your hat, and let’s get started!…