Late Intermediate Repertoire

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.

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…

Dora Pejačević • Early Pieces

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

The Schott Student Edition series continues to expand, offering outstanding new collections of pedagogy classics and rediscovered gems. I have reviewed several previous titles here, and was delighted to recently receive a superb addition to the set: Dora Pejačević: Early Piano Pieces.

By happy synchronicity, I was teaching at The Thinking Pianist course just a few days after the Schott Music volume landed in my postbox, and during the week my faculty colleague and friend Ivana Gavrić gave an illuminating lecture recital introducing Dora Pejačević.

Having commercially recorded and performed the music of her famous compatriot, Ivana has a natural affinity with Pejačević’s music, promoting it with sensitivity, balanced enthusiasm, and retelling the story of this formidable Croatian cultural icon. Having packed Dora Pejačević’s Early Piano Pieces for the trip, we were able to discuss this new volume, and I am indebted to Ivana for her insights.

Meanwhile, introducing the Schott Music book, its editor Monika Twelsiek (who has previously brought us many outstanding publications in the Schott catalogue) tells us,

“Dora Pejačević (1885-1923) is a star in Croatia: streets, schools and cafés are named after her, there is a perfume and a sparkling wine bearing her name, and a statue named ‘Dora’ is awarded at the Croatian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. Outside Croatia, however, the composer only became known late. After having been forgotten for many years, her works did not reach the public until the 1980s…
Who is this woman?“

Arise and Shine

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Back in 2023 I reviewed two collections of Piano Music of Black Composers compiled by the American performer, scholar, and educator Leah Claiborne for Hal Leonard’s Expanding the Repertoire series.

The two books offered a varied and engaging, if in hindsight slightly inconsistent, potpourri of little-known music by Black composers, and at the time I concluded,

“It’s a great pity that this fabulous pedagogic repertoire hasn’t been a standard feature of our piano education culture, and Leah Claiborne has done us a superb service in providing these slender volumes. We must hope more will follow.”

More has indeed followed, and I was delighted to receive Claiborne’s latest anthology, Arise and Shine, which offers 28 piano solos by Black composers suitable for intermediate to early advanced players (I would estimate UK Grades 2-8).

Jason Sifford • Here Be Dragons

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Jason Sifford has established himself as one of America’s most respected composers of educational piano music, and a jewel in the crown of music publishers The Willis Music Company.

Promoting his music more widely, I wrote a rave review recommending his two KEYBOP books when they appeared, and subsequently selected three of his pieces to appear in my Willis Student Recital Collection.

Introducing Sifford’s lavishly illustrated new collection, Here Be Dragons, Willis Music write,

“Cultures from around the world tell of thrilling tales and legends about magical flying creatures. This intermediate piano collection was inspired by these fantastical beasts and aims to provide performance material and adventurous music-making for all pianists with vivid imagination.”

This new collection is billed as suitable for Intermediate to Early Advanced players, and sounds exciting, so let’s brave ourselves and take a look…

Phillip Keveren • Jazz Preludes

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

The Phillip Keveren Series remains one of Hal Leonard’s notably popular successes, bursting at the seams with his collections of jazz and popular piano arrangements as well as original and fresh educational music.

The latest addition to the series is Jazz Preludes for Piano, which offers:

“15 concise preludes designed to introduce a traditional pianist to the spices that season the language of jazz.”

The book is suitable for late intermediate players, around UK Grades 5-6, and delivers an enjoyable introduction to playing in a variety of jazz styles, all cunningly embedded in attractive new pieces that leave the player wanting more!

So if you (or a student you teach) have an interest in developing a more instinctive grasp of jazz grooves and repertoire, this publication is very much aimed in your direction. Let’s find out more about it…

Piano Player • Anime

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

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…