Sheet Music Reviews – Page 9

Yann Tiersen • Rathlin from a Distance

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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It is unusual for the sheet music tie-in publication for a major release to appear prior to the actual recordings, so when Hal Leonard delivered the new piano solo collection from Yann Tiersen at the start of the year it was quite a coup, giving fans a few months to delve into the popular composer’s latest music before hearing his own versions when the album lands on April 4th.

Having enjoyed dipping into these pieces myself, with preview tracks now available to give you a flavour, and with the full album release rapidly approaching, I think it’s time to take a look at Rathlin from a Distance…

Piano Day • The Collection

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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“Piano Day” takes place on the 88th day of the year, in reference to the standard number of keys on the instrument being celebrated. Established in 2015, it has grown a global following, each year providing a focal point for concerts, onstage and online, as well as radio shows, podcasts, and piano-based playlists.

You can discover the albums and playlists associated with this annual event, and find out more about this year’s live performances, on the Piano Day website here.

The goal of Piano Day is simple: to raise the profile of the instrument, inspire more people to develop their skills, and in particular to encourage piano playing in public spaces. According to its key founder and organiser, the pianist and composer Nils Frahm,

“Why does the world need a Piano Day? For many reasons. But mostly, because it doesn’t hurt to celebrate the piano and everything around it: performers, composers, piano builders, tuners, movers, and most importantly, the listener.”

Celebrating the event’s first ten years, Piano Day: The Collection is an official bumper anthology that has been personally curated by Frahm, and now published by Faber Music. The 128-page volume brings together 35 atmospheric works for solo piano, inspired by, created and included in Piano Day playlists over this first decade.

Suitable for intermediate pianists and featuring music by such popular figures in contemporary piano music as Ólafur Arnalds, Hania Rani, Ludovico Einaudi, Olivia Belli, and of course Nils Frahm himself, Piano Day: The Collection is billed by the publisher as “a celebration of the piano in the 21st century”, and certainly highlights the scope of this popular event.

A Dozen a Day • Counting Rhythm

Educational Resources

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Fans of the beloved A Dozen A Day series of piano exercise books from the Willis Music Company (reviewed here) may have noticed the recent arrival of a new title in the series. A Dozen A Day: Counting Rhythm supplements the popular piano books with a slim volume of “pre-practice rhythm exercises for all instruments”.

The book’s writer remains uncredited, but is not Edna Mae Burnam (1907-2007), who created the original classics. Nevertheless, this modest addition to the series respectfully aligns with the look and feel of her originals, as well as progressively matching the concepts, rhythmic values and meters of the first four Dozen A Day books.

I have begun trialling this material with a few elementary learners, and am finding it a distinctive and useful studio addition…

Prokofiev • Musiques d’enfants

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Over the last three decades, few music collections have been used in my teaching as regularly and consistently as Prokofiev’s Musiques d’enfants. The simple joy of these twelve intermediate level pieces (UK Grades 3-5) is that they so brilliantly combine genuine creative invention, immediacy of appeal, and immense pedagogic value.

Until now, the go-to edition has been the “Authentic Edition” from Boosey & Hawkes, who owned the distribution rights. Theirs is an attractively presented, reliable, and perfectly usable version, but not entirely without issues. Aside from a couple of tricky passages for which the composer added fingering, none is provided; nor are English translations for the French titles. The introduction and composer biography by Peter Donohoe are neither child-friendly, nor pedagogically insightful for teachers.

With Prokofiev’s music now out of copyright, others are quickly bringing editions to market. Edition Peters have reissued their own earlier version, which in common with the Boosey & Hawkes edition is accurate but rather basic, albeit English titles are added, and their edition benefits from being printed on cream paper.

Now a brand new edition has appeared in the Schott Student Edition series, edited and featuring superb fingering suggestions throughout by the ever-impressive Monika Twelsiek. With English and German translations for the piece titles, a useful Preface, and detailed Teaching Notes for each of the twelve pieces, I think that this is now the edition to go for…

Favourite Melodies • Jazz Piano

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Eric Baumgartner’s name will be new to many here in the UK. I only came across his work when his excellent Jazz It Up! Christmas collection appeared for review in 2022. Though glancing at his resume, I remained unfamiliar with his other work, but hugely impressed with his seasonal offering.

Writing in my review here I concluded:

“Baumgartner’s writing is wonderfully pianistic, stylistically spot on, and whether played for background entertainment or performed as concert pieces, listeners will be as delighted to hear these arrangements as piano players are to practise and play them.”

It has been a pleasure playing though many of his other publications in the intervening years, in particular while researching and compiling my newly available Willis Student Recital Collection, and it was while exploring these that his latest Favourite Melodies for Jazz Piano Solo also appeared.