Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Faber Music’s Piano Player series has been a welcome success of recent years, each handsome collection in the growing set showcasing the distinctive artwork of Edward Bawden (1903-1989) while offering an appealing variety of music within.
For information about previous titles, read my reviews here.
The cycle appeared to run its course with the release of all titles originally announced, but now enters a new era with two new collections. These no longer sport Bawden’s artwork, but otherwise retain the series aesthetic.
Likely to be particularly popular, Piano Player: Anime curates nineteen themes from Japanese anime soundtracks, arranged for solo piano…
Anime soundtracks
For any who are unfamiliar with the cultural phenomenon, anime is a vibrant form of animated entertainment that appeals to viewers of all ages. With distinctive art stylings, well-developed characters, and storytelling that resonates widely, it offers an engaging escape into imaginative and fantastical worlds, and has become a hugely popular genre in its own right.
Japan’s renowned Studio Ghibli has led the way, delivering classics such as Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Princess Mononoke, each featuring evocative music composed by Joe Hisaishi, establishing him as an influential composer of film music. Hisaishi’s scores have now even begun to appear in classical concerts, and feature in recordings from Deutsche Grammophon.
Faber Music’s Piano Player: Anime collection includes several arrangements of Hisaishi’s music (although none from Spirited Away), as well as from other popular soundtracks and leading composers of the genre. They are arranged by Olly Weeks, and would suit players from around UK Grade 3 (early intermediate) to approaching Grade 8 (early advanced).
Having not yet developed an interest in this cultural phenomenon, I consulted with friends to see whether the included titles are representative and appealing. I am told that the weight of this material leans heavily towards Studio Ghibli titles rather than other sources, but that the selection is nevertheless broadly a welcome and good one.
The arrangements appear in approximate order of difficulty, although titles from each film are presented together. Here’s the full list:
- No Clue, No Hope (from The Imaginary)
- You Can See Me? (The Imaginary)
- Signal Flags (From Up on Poppy Hill)
- Evening Wind (My Neighbor Totoro)
- A Huge Tree in the Tsukamori Forest (My Neighbor Totoro)
- Circulation (Wolf Children)
- Setsuko and Seita (Grave of the Fireflies)
- Arrietty’s Song (Arrietty)
- Ashitaka and San (Princess Mononoke)
- Princess Mononoke Theme Song (Princess Mononoke)
- Sheeta’s Decision (Laputa: Castle in the Sky)
- The Girl Who Fell From the Sky (Laputa: Castle in the Sky)
- A Town with an Ocean View (Kiki’s Delivery Service)
- Heartbroken Kiki (Kiki’s Delivery Service)
- Never Coming Back (Violet Evergarden: Automemories)
- Nausicaä Requiem (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind)
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
- Bygone Days (Porco Rosso)
- Killer (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure – Diamond is Unbreakable)
From this list we see that the music is drawn from thirteen anime titles. Alongside Hisaichi, composers include Kenichi Nagahashi, Shiori Inoue, Satoshi Takebe, Masakatsu Takagi, Michio Mamiya, Evan Call, Yugo Kanno, and jointly Cécile Corbel with Simon Caby.
I have to confess that having listened to the original soundtrack recordings of all the pieces included, I would be hard pressed to distinguish any of these composers from Hisaishi, or each other, stylistically. Perhaps it is the nature of the genre that anime music has its own generic character, and this is hardly a criticism given its popularity.
The arrangements and publication
I can happily advise that Olly Weeks has produced accessible piano versions of these pieces which are fundamentally true to their sources. In all cases, these arrangements are presented in full, in their original keys, so can actually be played along to the original soundtrack recordings.
I personally enjoyed playing through these solo piano arrangements far more than listening to the original anime soundtracks, with their faux orchestral MIDI sounds. Faber Music’s Piano Player collection has certainly elevated my engagement with this music, which is a true testament to the exceptional quality of Weeks’ work here.
The presentation is, as one would expect, tastefully done. Replacing Bawden’s artworks, the main cover image is ‘sad anime boy sitting alone at evening’, a stock image. Within, the 48 pages are presented on bright white paper. The consequent glare is mitigated by the use of fairly large, well-spaced music engraving. Fingering is included throughout.
I would have welcomed a little more background information, but suspect that for those interested in the book, these pieces and their original anime sources will need no introduction!
Closing thoughts
This collection can be given the warmest of welcomes, and fills a gap that many intermediate pianists and their teachers are highly alert to.
The Piano Player series includes several excellent titles. This latest addition proves to be a double win: comfortably taking its place alongside the rest of the set, while adding a new genre of music that is highly distinctive and much requested to the intermediate piano repertoire.
While there are already several anime collections available from Japanese publishers, this inexpensive and well-considered collection seems likely to prove extremely popular.
Teachers will certainly want a copy of this collection, recognising its cultural relevance, value, and understanding its potential for inspiring learners. And I suspect that many, many pianists will rush to buy copies!
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