Sheet Music Reviews

Falla • Serenata andaluza

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Since its founding in 1948, G. Henle Verlag has established an enviable reputation, its iconic dusty-blue Urtext editions a familiar and esteemed presence in homes, teaching studios, conservatoires, and concert halls around the world.

If Henle’s reputation for meticulous scholarship and exceptional engraving is well established, its openness to innovation is equally commendable. The Henle Library digital initiative, in particular, demonstrates how technology can enhance access to music while remaining true to the publisher’s commitment to quality and aesthetic values.

Over the years, Henle has forged relationships with distinguished musicians, from Claudio Arrau, Arthur Rubinstein and Yehudi Menuhin to more recent collaborators such as András Schiff and Murray Perahia, whose fingerings feature in the publisher’s Bach and Beethoven piano editions respectively.

Today, their print library has expanded to include some 1500 urtext scores, including complete composer editions through to performer-friendly scores of the great core repertoire, in many cases unsurpassed. We might wonder where they might go next.

Enter Henle Horizons, a new imprint that promises to deliver “Discoveries, Arrangements, Studies”, and arrives with burnt orange covers replacing the established dusty blue livery. For pianists, the first two volumes in this new series are Hummel’s Piano Sonata in F# minor Op,81 (which I will review separately) and Manuel de Falla’s delicious Serenata andaluza, the subject of this review.

After introducing the piece itself, this review will focus on the advent of the Henle Horizons series more broadly, exploring how it is distinct from the Henle Urtext editions we know and love…

The Mindful Piano Anthology

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

The Faber Music Piano Anthology series now extends to more than a dozen titles, many of which I have positively reviewed here.

The books have many strengths (not least their formidable spines, which, as I have previously noted, seem built to withstand the force needed to keep them open in use!). But perhaps the series’ greatest strength is Faber’s knack of combining the familiar with the new, ensuring that each successive title offers something for everyone.

The latest addition to this popular series is The Faber Music Mindful Piano Anthology, which as the book’s subtitle suggests, offers:

“A selection of peaceful and relaxing pieces for intermediate piano solo.”

As usual, the book contains many surprises…

Piano Music of the Black Renaissance

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Nearly two decades have passed since Oxford University Press (OUP) Music published William Chapman Nyaho’s pioneering landmark series, Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora (reviewed here), and in the intervening years our collective interest in this rich seam of repertoire has only increased.

I recently reviewed Samantha Ege’s superb scholarly performing edition of Florence Price’s Fantasie Nègre: Four Fantasies for Piano, also from OUP, and now hot on its heels, they bring us her new anthology of music by composers of the ‘Black Renaissance’ in the twentieth century.

Featuring solo piano pieces by eight composers, Piano Music of the Black Renaissance ranges in level from Early Intermediate to Advanced, and offers a fascinating and useful sourcebook of music that deserves much greater recognition within the classical piano repertoire.

My review offers a reflection on the special value of this publication, which I can strongly recommend as an important one that is unlikely to disappoint.

Disney • Graded Pieces for Piano

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Last year at around this time I reviewed the very-specifically-named Calming Christmas Carols for Graded Piano (read the review) and noted,

“Cleverly, and rather uniquely positioned as the progressive collection to which learners can reliably return each year throughout their Elementary to Intermediate piano journey, and thus maximising the book’s continuing value to teachers, learners, and parents, the concept is certainly attractive.”

At the time I wondered whether publisher Hal Leonard might extend the graded concept to other popular collections, and sure enough, earlier this year they launched the excellent Beatles Graded Pieces for Piano (reviewed here), and hot on its heels a Disney collection, again for Grades 1-5, and the subject of the review.

In common with the Beatles Graded Pieces for Piano collection, this new release includes new arrangements by Christopher Hussey, along with appropriate introductory exercises suitable for learning the pieces at each grade level. Read on to find out more…

Edition Peters Graded Anthologies 2027-28

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Looking back, 2026 has been a year of graded anthologies, with new syllabus publications from LCME (reviewed here), from ABRSM (reviewed here), and the latter’s recent Encore Plus series (reviewed here).

Whether one is committed to exam preparation or not, these are useful collections of music which (one hopes) will be suitably levelled, offering diversity and variety for players and, for those taking grades, alternative repertoire selections and ‘own choice’ pieces.

Reviewing the 2027-28 ABRSM syllabus and Piano Exam Pieces books (with some disappointment). I noted:

“I think that few will argue with the point that, across every grade, the alternative selections offer several easier and more appealing options. I suspect these lists may therefore prove a more attractive repertoire focus for teachers wishing to maximise motivation and confidence.”

Right on time, Edition Peters have now published their own Grade Piano Anthology collections based on the ABRSM 2027-28 syllabus, further swelling our options. In common with their previous series reviewed here, they offer books for each of Grades 5, 6, 7, and 8.

So do they offer a more tempting and balanced selection of music than the rather lacklustre ABRSM 2027-28 books, and might these collections have wider appeal? Here’s my review…

Florence Price • Concert Works

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Interest in the music of Florence Price (1887–1953) has grown considerably in the last few years, with her music becoming a regular feature in concert halls and recording studios, and her piano music firmly reestablishing its place in music education.

Price’s music has appeared in several piano compilations that I have reviewed here, including my own Joy of Graded Piano Grade 4 book, and a couple of years ago the Hal Leonard publication Florence Price: Rediscovered Gems for intermediate pianists was widely heralded as a publishing success.

In the Pianodao review of that book, I concluded:

“These are pieces of substance and quality that will universally delight, motivate, inspire, and win over players and audiences everywhere. They are indeed rediscovered gems!”

Florence Price: Rediscovered Gems was the work of editor and Price expert Michael Clark, who has subsequently compiled a new anthology for late intermediate to early advanced pianists, with a nucleus of repertoire that, in my estimation, would suit players around UK Grade 6-7 level, and simply called Price Piano Works. This new collection is published by Edition Peters.

Also newly available, author, pianist and music historian Dr. Samantha Ege has delivered a stunning new edition, published by OUP Music, of Price’s celebrated Fantasie Nègre: Four Fantasies for Piano.

This is arguably among the most important scholarly critical performing editions I have ever been sent for review, offering as it does four milestone concert pieces, presented in complete editions for the first time, that will suit diploma recitalists and professional pianists.

In this review, I will consider each of these two new publications in turn…

Essential Piano Education Resources 2026-7

Educational Resources
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

It can be overwhelming keeping track of all the latest and best resources, and I have found that my annual roundup of my favourite new releases and returning classics can be just as helpful to me as it is for other teachers reading this.

As we begin another academic year, here’s my selection of standout piano education publications from the last few months, evergreen classics that are still at the heart of my teaching, and must-have music collections with an educational focus.

To read my in-depth evaluations of any of the publications shared below, and for a better understanding of which might suit your and your students’ particular needs, simply click on the titles to open the full reviews, or right-click to open them in a new tab.

ABRSM • Encore Plus

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Spin the clock back to 2015, and ABRSM’s Encore series of four graded piano books was among the first ever reviews on Pianodao. I loved the series then and still do, although much has changed in the intervening years, and Encore has been due an update that accounts for the intervening decade of syllabus publications.

That now arrives in the form of Encore Plus, a new set of four books that broadly match the grade groupings and spirit of the original series, again compiled by Karen Marshall and complete with her teaching advice.

The original series remains available; these new volumes are not so much replacements as complementary collections, bringing together a more contemporary selection of repertoire drawn from recent ABRSM syllabuses.

ABRSM are certainly no strangers to graded compilations of this sort, but I think Encore Plus is among their best series yet. In this review I will reflect on the included repertoire, consider Marshall’s supplementary teaching material, and assess the overall quality of the resource…