Sheet Music Reviews – Page 13

Masterpieces for the Modern Pianist

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

Bumper books of piano repertoire have long been a popular feature of the music publishing landscape. They can also prove hugely useful, as illustrated by a student I currently teach who is putting together a complete Grade 7 programme using only the free music compendium that arrived (in a polythene bag, alongside the instruction manual) with his Yamaha piano.

One of the enjoyable quirks of such anthologies is that they often include some unexpected rarities alongside the usual chestnuts, and this is a strength that The Willis Music Company have particularly played to with their latest venture into this market. Masterpieces for the Modern Pianist claims, and succeeds, in offering:

“a unique classical piano solo collection of over 70 timeless favourites and featuring undiscovered gems!”

Read on for the complete list and review of this remarkable fresh arrival…

Kerstin Strecke • Little Moods

Pianodao Music Library

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

If you are familiar with Breitkopf & Hāretel’s Pädagogik series you will likely have come across the name Kerstin Strecke, composer of their delightful and inventive series of childrens’ books featuring Tio, the Little Keyboard Man.

Strecke’s latest is a collection of 15 original pieces, Little Moods, about which we are told,

“Little Moods aims to be a building block for versatile piano lessons with children, teenagers and adults. The 15 self-contained, round-sounding miniatures are musically easy to grasp and therefore easy to learn. They are suitable for sight-reading and are especially good for practising the use of the right pedal. If the one or the other piece is then transposed into other keys in a courageous and experimental way or taken as a starting point for one’s own improvisations, the purpose of the collection is more than fulfilled.”

When the review copy arrived a few weeks back, it got buried somewhere in the pile on my piano. Happily it has resurfaced: I am genuinely excited by this beautifully presented and keenly priced collection, and think it could prove to be a real winner….

Discovering Smetana

Pianodao Music Library

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

In March 2024, we celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884), esteemed Czech composer and pivotal figure in the development of the national style during the Romantic Era.

Smetana’s compositions, including his epic tone poem cycle “Má vlast”, not only captured the essence of Bohemian landscapes and folklore but also encapsulated the national spirit during a period of intense political and cultural awakening in the region.

Smetana’s remarkable talent persisted despite hardships. By late 1874, he became completely deaf, but he continued composing until a mental breakdown in early 1884 led to his confinement in an asylum and subsequent decline.

Today, Smetana’s works remain cherished emblems of Czech cultural identity. But what of his piano music? Like many, I have remained largely unfamiliar with the significant body of solo repertoire Smetana composed, the bicentenary year thus providing an opportunity for discovery.

I am most grateful to publishers Bärenreiter for helping me evaluate Smetana’s legacy, kindly supplying me with their editions of his piano works, which presently appear in the seven volumes reviewed below…

The Gradebusters Series

Pianodao Music Library

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

Grade exams getting you down?
Who are you going to call?… GRADEBUSTERS!!

Gradebusters is a cheekily-titled series from Hal Leonard, which launched in 2019 with Grade 1 books for piano, violin, cello, flute, clarinet, trumpet, alto and tenor sax.

The series now encompasses five solo piano books, respectively for Grades 1 to 5, each delivering “15 awesome solos”, and together serving up a rich feast of 75 universally popular and neatly arranged songs that piano players everywhere will be keen to play.

Celtic Piano Music • Elementary

Pianodao Music Library

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

EVC Music is a publisher who continue to enjoy an interesting journey. From early beginnings a few years ago, publishing founder Elena Cobb’s music but soon growing to include music of upcoming composers she wanted to support, the publisher has developed a catalogue of music by composers as highly respected as Nikki Iles, Heather Hammond, Graham Lynch, Sam Wedgwood and Donald Thomson.

The latter has long been working in the sidelines as a music engraver for publishers such as Kevin Mayhew and Faber Music, but as a composer burst onto the scene with his award-nominated and deservedly popular series of Celtic Piano Music books, reviewed here, which I have found appeal to intermediate players of all ages.

Thomson is now back with more, and his latest collection in the Celtic Piano Music series offers 21 new pieces suitable for elementary players, equivalent to UK Initial to Grade 2 level.

Sporting a classy cover that builds on the image of the original collections, and with the high quality smooth cream paper that EVC Music have recently switched to, this is a genuinely impressive publication which can only further enhance EVC Music’s reputation for delivering quality product, and for being a publisher with an enviable track record for spotting and bringing to market some of the best new music around.

As this is an EVC publication, I must remind readers that I sometimes assist the publisher as a consultant on particular projects. However, let me confirm that this is not one of those, and that until the review copy landed on my door mat I had no idea about this book.

So as independent agents together, let’s discover what the collection offers…

More Animal Jazz

Pianodao Music Library

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

Reviewing Barbara Snow’s infectious Animal Jazz back in 2016, I concluded,

“What impresses me most with this collection is the way in which the composer is able to introduce so much character to each of these highly accessible pieces, but without adding unnecessary complexity in the process.
I can highly recommend ‘Animal Jazz’ as a thoroughly charming collection of jazzy pieces, and suspect my own younger students are going to love it!”

Happily, Snow is back with another collection, More Animal Jazz, once again brought to us by boutique publishing house Edition HH. Let’s find out more…

Jakub Metelka • The Secret Garden

Pianodao Music Library

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

Jakub Metelka has proven one of the most interesting piano composers to emerge in recent years, his educational music offering genuinely useful content embedded in attractive pieces which are enjoyable to play, and notably concise.

Metelka’s latest offering is The Secret Garden, brought to us by Bärenreiter, who previously also published his Modern Piano Studies (2019) reviewed here and Little Virtuoso (2021) reviewed here.

This new collection is, in common with Little Virtuoso, suitable for early advanced players at around UK Grade 7 level, and it will undoubtedly further enhance Metelka’s growing international standing.

As with his previous work, I quickly found myself drawn into his imaginative sound world and delighted by what I discovered within…

Piano Player • Classical Chillout

Pianodao Music Library

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

Faber Music’s Piano Player series of themed collections for late intermediate players have been a consistent highlight of the past two years, each deliciously presented volume sporting the distinctive artwork of Edward Bawden, and proving especially apt and popular with adult music enthusiasts.

The full series has been reviewed here on Pianodao, and with consistent praise. Not only so, but adult learners have been bringing the books to their lessons at my studio, and shown themselves similarly keen.

The latest addition to the series is Classical Chillout, and can be welcomed with particular enthusiasm, and not just by existing fans of the series. This new collection could also be an answer to the prayers of those still searching for the perfect, if elusive, mix of relaxing piano solos.

So let’s breathe in, and take a mindful look…