Sheet Music Reviews – Page 14

The Joy of Graded Piano

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

The Joy of Graded Piano is a set of five deluxe repertoire collections newly published by Yorktown Music Press, and heralds the return of one of the most iconic piano series of all time.

The five books cover Grades 1-5, offering an enjoyable and well-rounded introduction to the astonishing riches and greatest composers of the piano repertoire.

“Attractively presented from cover to cover, these are among the best graded collections currently available.”

Pianist Magazine

Denes Agay’s original Joy of… piano books are one of the great achievements of music publishing. They began to appear in 1955, and he went on to produce more than 50 titles for the series, collectively selling millions of copies. These books remain popular with piano students, players, and teachers around the world to this very day, although much else has changed.

This new series of graded piano anthologies builds on that remarkable legacy with care, drawing together new titles to reflect developments in piano education and musical preferences that have occurred within the intervening decades.

It is a pleasure and a privilege to have worked with the publishers on the development of this series over the last three years:

selecting the 120 included works
editing them afresh, looking to the most authoritative sources, and adding new fingering where needed
writing background notes and practice tips for each and every piece across the series

Using the UK grade exam system as a guide, I have tried to ensure each book in the series offers a wide selection of repertoire, including many of the “greatest hits” of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic piano literature, alongside brilliant newer pieces composed by women and men from all around the world, right up to the present day.

Chinese Piano Music

Pianodao Music Library

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

Classical piano playing has become hugely popular in China in recent years, its cultural popularity contributing to the rise of many impressive concert artists. Chinese pianists are becoming ever more prominent in music schools, international competitions, and concert halls worldwide.

It’s no surprise that the music of Chinese composers is also getting more attention. Riding this wave, Henle’s newly released Chinese Piano Music: Works of the 20th Century brings us superb scores of ten of the most pivotal works to emerge between 1947 and 1979, music that was formative in the development of a popular national style.

Curated by concert pianist Jingxian (Jane) Xie, this compilation includes music suitable for late intermediate to diploma level players, showpieces that combine a beautiful understanding of pianism with the captivating flavour of traditional Chinese music and culture. Many are already appearing as encores in the world’s most distinguished concert halls; all are likely to do so in the coming years.

While these composer names and piece titles may be new to many, it is clearly time to discover them, and the familiar Henle Urtext house style brings its own assurance that this is music which should not be ignored…

Phillip Keveren • So Far

Pianodao Music Library

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

“Decade birthdays get our attention. I have not been that impressed with any of mine, until this one. Six decades. It seems like a good time to take stock and be grateful. In that spirit, I have written twelve new piano compositions, musical timestamps from my life’s journey.”

So writes Phillip Keveren in the introduction to So Far…, the latest addition to Hal Leonard’s hugely popular Phillip Keveren Series of publications, which largely comprise this superb arranger’s take on popular, showtime and jazz classics, but occasionally also includes his original music.

Previous Keveren originals that I have enjoyed include Piano Calm (reviewed here) and Circles (reviewed here), both superb collections for intermediate players. Now he returns with So Far…, suitable for early advanced players and another surefire winner.

Vince Guaraldi • Jazz Piano Solos

Pianodao Music Library

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

I have previously looked at a number of titles in Brent Edstrom’s superb Hal Leonard series of Jazz Piano Solos (you can read those reviews here), and the series has become the established go-to for advanced players (from around Grade 7) wanting to explore the jazz repertoire.

The latest addition to this growing resource, Volume 64 no less, is devoted to the music of the legendary Vince Guaraldi, known to many as the man behind the music in the Charlie Brown cartoons. And for those not familiar with Guaraldi’s other work, this new volume is a great entrance to discovering it…

Alan Bullard • Aspects of Blue

Pianodao Music Library

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

Alan Bullard is probably best known to Pianodao readers as the co-author (with Janet) of the brilliant Pianoworks series of adult method and repertoire books, which I have reviewed here and use with my students on a near-daily basis.

Bullard is also respected as the composer of a set of 24 Preludes, reviewed here, which have found their place in the repertoire for more advanced players at around Grades 7-8 (including on the ABRSM syllabus).

Now he’s back with Aspects of Blue, his first publication with the adventurous boutique publishing house Editions Musica Ferrum, and arriving in their gorgeous house style.

We are told,

“These seven piano pieces, of intermediate difficulty, represent different aspects of the twelve-bar blues structure, which originated in the southern states of the USA in the mid-nineteenth century. Each is based on the twelve-bar blues chord sequence, but responds to it in a different way, with stylistic reference to the past as well as the present, providing a contrasting set of pieces which can be played complete or individually.”

Intrigued? Let’s investigate…

Narcisa Freixas • Elementary Piano Pieces

Pianodao Music Library

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

Previous titles in Schott Music’s Student Edition series have impressed, so with the arrival of the latest title, Elementary Pieces by the Spanish painter, sculptor and composer Narcisa Freixas (1859-1926), hopes for another worthwhile addition to the repertoire ride high.

In common with the recent Schott Student Edition of Amy Beach’s Children’s Music (reviewed here), and following on from her three graded anthologies of music by Women Composers (reviewed here), this new edition has been put together by British pedagogue Melanie Spanswick, who would seem to have made it her crusade to revive forgotten works by women.

So who was Narcisa Freixas, and what are her pieces like? Let’s find out…

Angeline Bell’s Garden Notebook

Pianodao Music Library

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

Angeline Bell’s Lyrical and Quirky Notebooks were a highlight of 2023, and so much so that in my review of them here I concluded,

“With these two collections, Angeline Bell has certainly burst onto the scene with music that has the same explosive energy as the flora and fauna erupting from the pianos on her book covers. On the strength of these, her debut publications, she can be greeted as a major talent.”

Editions Musica Ferrum recently published Bell’s third Notebook, My Garden Notebook. This latest collection is suitable for players from elementary to early intermediate, around UK Initial to Grade 4. and offers:

“24 easy and melodious piano solos inspired by nature.”

Time to find out whether this new collection lives up to the inspiration of its predecessors…

Paul Harris • Rainbow

Pianodao Music Library

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

Originally published by Boosey & Hawkes in 1988, Rainbow is a slim collection of seven miniatures suitable for the early intermediate pianist (around Grade 3), composed by the then upcoming Paul Harris.

Given their quality, it is perhaps no surprise that they gained an admiring following, taking their place on teachers’ music shelves alongside such earlier British pedagogic classics as Richard Rodney Bennett’s A Week of Birthdays and Malcolm Arnold’s Eight Children’s Pieces Op.36.

Rainbow won fresh fans when the sixth piece, Indigo was selected as an ABRSM Grade 3 piano piece a couple of years ago, and perhaps this has been the stimulus for Boosey & Hawkes to bring us a shiny new edition of the collection, complete with audio recordings, performance tips by the composer, and a striking cover that is a better fit for a new generation of players…