Christmas Music – Advanced

John Rutter • Complete Piano Album

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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One of the most extraordinarily popular and successful British composers of his generation, John Rutter’s choral works, anthems, hymns and carols are beloved the world over for their distinctive mix of French choral, English pastoral, and American popular influences.

John Rutter has enjoyed a long career at the pinnacle of the English choral world, from his appearance as a chorister in the 1963 recording of Britten’s War Requiem conducted by the composer, through his time at Cambridge and his numerous prestigious appointments and accomplishments up to the present day.

As he enjoys his 80th birthday year, Rutter is rightly considered a national treasure, and his publishers OUP Music are celebrating with a fresh compilation of his two recent solo piano albums in one superb book of 16 pieces, as well as the publication of his piano concerto, Reflections.

The Complete John Rutter Piano Album brings together his transcriptions first published as Piano Collection: A Flower Remembered in 2020, along with those that make up the subsequent John Rutter Christmas Piano Album.

For fans of his music, the Complete John Rutter Piano Album is an obvious and more cost-effective choice, so the review that follows draws from and replaces my earlier reviews of the initial, separate publications.

Christmas Boogie and Jazz

The Christmas Shortlist

Selected and reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Brent Edstrom’s stunning series of Jazz Piano Solos collections has reached its sixty seventh volume with Hal Leonard’s publication of the new Boogie Woogie Christmas.

I have previously praised several titles from this series, and in this review I am going to look at the new addition as well as recapping previous three more Christmas books in the series that I have looked at in the past, bringing them together here to help readers decide where to start and which to choose.

Together, these four cover an extraordinary amount of ground, freshly dusted with deep, crisp, and evenly festive brilliance. These Jazz Piano Solos will undoubtedly keep advanced players engaged with their superbly stylish boogie and jazzed up reimaginings of the Christmas canon…

Piano Player • Wintertide

The Christmas Shortlist

Selected and reviewed by Andrew Eales
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In a busy year for music publishers, Faber Music’s new series The Piano Player has quickly established itself as a distinctive and enjoyable new imprint.

Introducing the first title in the series, a stirring collection of British Classics released in time for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, I wrote,

“Aimed at intermediate players of all ages (and I suspect with a particular eye on the adult market), these look set to be a lovely collection of repertoire books.”

A second title, Classical Favourites, quickly followed (reviewed here), and hot on its heels we now have a third. Ready for the run up to Christmas, Wintertide Collection offers “A seasonal selection of 20 wintry pieces”…

Christmas • Peaceful Piano Playlist

The Christmas Shortlist

Selected and reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Each year a flurry of new Christmas piano books arrive before first snowfall, this year proving no exception. Fresh from Faber, the Peaceful Piano Playlist: Christmas book sets the bar high, both in terms of content and presentation. The publication offers,

“A specially curated relaxing playlist of festive piano solos for the intermediate player”,

…and follows on from the popular Peaceful Piano Playlist publication which I reviewed here back in 2019. Read on for the list of included pieces, and of course for the full review…

Jazz It Up! Christmas

The Christmas Shortlist

Selected and reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Piano players at early advanced level enthusiastic for a more jazzy take on evergreen Christmas favourites have never been better served, with several choices among my recent reviews to choose from.

Alongside these, they will likely lap up Eric Baumgartner’s brilliant Jazz It Up! Christmas, now in its second edition, and offering twelve ingenious solo arrangements in a variety of accessible grooves.

Twelve, you say? Well yes: the first edition of the book appeared in 2000 and included six pieces; that number doubled to twelve with the publication of the second edition in 2020, the subject of this mini review…

Donald Thomson’s Winter Piano Music

The Christmas Shortlist

Selected and reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Scottish composer Donald Thomson is perhaps best known for his series of Celtic Piano Music collections for intermediate pianists, the omnibus edition of which I have reviewed here.

I have also been impressed with his enjoyable Halloween Piano Tunes collection for elementary players, which I reviewed here recently.

Now Thomson is back with Winter Piano Music, a new collection that is once again published by EVC Music. This time he has written for the more advanced player, delivering five compositions and arrangements which are surely destined to become seasonal concert favourites…

Peaceful Christmas Piano Solos

The Christmas Shortlist

Selected and reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Peaceful Christmas Piano Solos from Hal Leonard offers a collection of 30 seasonal pieces arranged for solo piano. Stick with me to find out what’s included… and whether it’s any good!

Jazz on a Winter’s Night

The Christmas Shortlist

Selected and reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Jazz music and Christmas have a beautifully nostalgic association for many, and it’s no surprise that jazz pianist Nikki Iles’ Jazz on a Winter’s Night has been such a huge success since its 2009 publication.

Jazz on a Winter’s Night proved to be a milestone publication that spawned three outstanding sequels in Jazz in Springtime, Jazz on a Summer’s Day and Jazz in Autumn, each including a selection of seasonally themed jazz standards and originals composed by Nikki herself.

I was thrilled to recently notice that Oxford University Press have now brought out a second collection of Christmas classics arranged by Nikki in a range of jazz styles that once again pay homage to legendary jazz musicians.

In this review I will recap what makes the original book such a classic must-have for every advanced pianist before taking a closer look at its excellent new sequel…