Edition Peters – Pianodao

Mendelssohn • Masterpieces

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Edition Peters’ Masterpieces for Piano series launched last year with three initial titles devoted to the great keyboard works of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, expertly compiled by Roland Erben and given fresh modern engravings based on the publisher’s esteemed legacy editions.

Each of the beautifully presented bumper books in the series so far offers a significant selection of core repertoire, suitable for (predominantly) early advanced players. And they proved to be one of the music publishing highlights of the last year.

Now Erben is back, with a volume of music by Clara Schumann coming soon, but firstly a new collection of Felix Mendelssohn’s most popular works. How many of them have you played?

Bearing in mind Mendelssohn’s importance and popularity, it may come as a surprise that in the last ten years of reviewing music on Pianodao, this is the first time I have been sent a new publication of his music for consideration.

Happily, this might be the only one you will ever need. Let’s find out…

Essential Piano Technique: Levels 2-3

Educational Resources

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Penelope Roskell’s Essential Piano Technique series has already established itself as a benchmark resource for introducing healthy piano techniques in an imaginative and musical way.

The first three books appeared in 2023. Primer A, Primer B, and Level 1 publications take the beginner up to around Grade 1 in the UK, and in my review here I concluded,

“I cannot overstate how highly I recommend these three volumes. Beautifully presented, but modestly priced, they establish a new benchmark for teaching children the foundations for a healthy piano technique.”

With the latest two additions to the growing series, Roskell provides a similarly useful and significant resource for players progressing through Late Elementary to Intermediate level, Grades 1-4.

In this review, I will look at these Level 2 and Level 3 books in turn, and consider what part they might play in piano lessons and the development of learners…

Edition Peters Piano Classics

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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In recent years, Edition Peters have published biennial Piano Anthology collections of exam pieces linked to each new ABRSM syllabus, recently adding Grade 5, 6, and 7 volumes to their popular, long-standing Grade 8 series.

These offer great value, and a broader range of music than the exam board’s own Selected Exam Piece publications. You can read my review of the 2025-26 Edition Peters Piano Anthologies here. I have often recommended these useful collections, and it is only a pity that due to regular syllabus changes, they have a short shelf life.

Sound the trumpet, strike the drum, and give a warm welcome to the recently arrived Edition Peters Piano Classics. Unshackled from any specified syllabus, this sturdy anthology has been designed for longevity, and offers a compelling selection of repertoire that will surely have wider international appeal, beyond just those taking UK grade exams.

Presenting a judicious selection of 32 “selected examination and performance pieces“, with scores revived from their past and present Edition Peters Piano Anthology publications, this bumper compendium offers a broad range of core classics suitable for the advancing player at around Grade 8 level.

Read on for a full list of pieces (including their previous ABRSM grading), and my general thoughts about this hugely rewarding anthology…

Beethoven • Masterpieces

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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The new Masterpieces for Piano series from Edition Peters has proved one of the most exciting additions to the piano player’s library in recent months, and I have spared no blushes in my praise of the Schubert and Mozart titles.

Compiled by Roland Erben from the publishing house’s iconic Green Series of publications, each of these bumper books appears with an eye-catching cover artwork, newly engraved scores presented on luxury cream paper, and offers a significant cross-section of each composer’s solo music for intermediate to advanced pianists.

Joining the series, Beethoven Masterpieces for Piano is now the third title, completing an initial trilogy (and let’s face it, there is plenty of scope for the series to grow!). Once again, the publication offers a stunningly presented and keenly priced volume of indispensable music, but let’s consider whether it lives up to the excellence of the first two bumper anthologies…

Mozart • Masterpieces

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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When I recently reviewed Edition Peters’ stunning new collection of music by Franz Schubert, I concluded:

“This is an indisputably rich trove of musical treasures from one of the world’s most beloved composers, so those not already familiar with these pieces really need to do themselves a favour and get a copy. There are of course many great, and comprehensive, editions of Schubert’s piano works, but for a compendium that offers such a range, I can think of no equal.”

I mentioned in that review that the Schubert volume was the first of three, and in this review I will consider whether the second, Mozart Masterpieces for Piano, lives up to the same high standards.

This 144-page bumper edition offers 38 works, large and small, and is once again billed as delivering:

“Essential repertoire for intermediate to advanced level pianists.”

With several pieces from the child composer’s early London Notebook, leading to the complete Sonata in C (KV 545), F (KV 280) and A major (KV 331), and the exquisite Adagio in B minor (KV 540), the anthology includes music ranging from around Grade 2 to Associate Diploma level. The full list of pieces follows…

Schubert • Masterpieces

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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The consolidation of Edition Peters within Faber Music continues to prove a fruitful alliance with the arrival of a new series, Masterpieces for Piano, bringing together Faber’s penchant for producing bumper anthologies with Edition Peters deep and respected classical catalogue.

The first arrival announcing the series is a stunning new 176-page compendium of music by Franz Schubert.

With selections suitable for players from intermediate to advanced level, taking in easy Ecossaises and other dances, and progressing through Moment Musicals to several popular Impromptus and the complete Sonata in A major Op.120, this could well be the ultimate Schubert collection for enthusiastic adult players and students…

Discovering Backer Grøndahl

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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As I write, I am enjoying the magical afterglow of an event I recently attended at the Norwegian Ambassador’s residence in Kensington. Organised with publisher Edition Peters, the evening celebrated the release of the first ever urtext editions of piano works by Agathe Backer Grøndahl (1847-1907).

The Edition Peters scores for both works have been published in association with Kode, the association of art museums and composers’ homes in and around Bergen, who previously also partnered for the publication of Grieg – A Piano Treasury, reviewed here.

Christian Grøvlen, who is Director of Music and the Composer’s Homes for Kode, and the editor of the Edition Peters scores, performed the two recently published works: the Fantasy Pieces Op.39 and In the Blue Mountain Op.44, introducing each with the rapt fascination and deep insight of a true expert.

While the latter piece was a virtuosic concert work in the manner of Liszt, it was the Fantasy Pieces that impressed me the more. While designating these miniatures “salon pieces,” Grøvlen highlighted Backer Grøndahl’s genius with the form, and her innovative compositional style.

I am surprised that a renewed interest in Backer Grøndahl’s music hasn’t come sooner. Enjoying the generous hospitality and chatting with other guests after the performance, it was clear that none there doubted that this music is of special importance and quality.

Your New Piano Journal

Fermata • Pause and Reflect

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Reflection by Andrew Eales

Keeping you own Piano Journal is an idea that is so simple it seems obvious, yet so powerful that it could transform your piano journey in the months and years ahead.

In my book How to Practise Music, I wrote the following to suggest adult learners keep a piano journal:

“Older learners often like to keep their own journal in which they write a more reflective account of their practice journey, which may or may not be shared with a teacher. These can be excellent tools for structuring practice sessions, probing for solutions, or looking back on previous work.”

It is a suggestion I unpacked in more detail in my article Keeping Your Own Piano Journal, which fascinatingly proved to be one of the most popular posts ever published on this site.

That article includes an explanation of what a piano journal is, what the benefits of keeping one are, how to get started, and questions that you might wish to reflect on in your piano journal.

I won’t rehash the answers given in that article, but I want to let you know about a new gift book from Edition Peters, a simple but gorgeously presented notebook which could be the ideal repository for your reflections and tool for piano journaling over the next year.

Edition Peters Piano Anthologies

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Following the launch of ABRSM’s 2023-24 syllabus, Edition Peters built on the success of their regular Grade 8 Piano Anthology series by issuing anthologies for Grades 5, 6, 7, and 8. At the time, I noted:

“Whatever one thinks of graded exams, there’s no denying that the ABRSM piano syllabus offers a stunning and helpfully progressive view of the rich and varied piano repertoire. And if their own publications open too small a window through which those wondrous joys might be discovered, the widescreen presentation Edition Peters offer with these anthologies must surely be welcomed with the broadest of smiles.”

With the advent of the 2025-26 ABRSM syllabus, which I have reviewed in depth here, Edition Peters (now under the roof of Faber Music) have returned with a new set of anthologies to supplement the latest syllabus.

It should be noted that there is a one-year overlap of syllabi, meaning that the older anthologies will (alongside ABRSM’s own piano exam piece books for 2023-24) remain valid until December 2025.

But what of the new anthologies? Here as always is my first in-depth look at them, including a detailed comparison between the ABRSM and Edition Peters books. For those on a budget, which is the better purchase, and why? Let’s find out…

Discovering Heller’s Studies

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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For many years, Burgmüller’s 25 Easy and Progressive Studies Op.100 have been a mainstay of my teaching, embraced by students as enjoyable piano pieces, while being immensely useful for addressing so many of the technical challenges of the Classical and Romantic piano literature. I consider this collection as near-essential as anything else found in the pedagogy repertoire.

And to support my students and others, I have recorded Burgmüller’s Op.100, compared various editions, and considered his more advanced Op.105 and Op.109 studies here: Discovering Burgmüller.

But where to for similar material for the player who wants more, either as a supplement or follow-on? I have at times used attractive études by Bertini (reviewed here) and Czerny, but recently my colleague and friend Lisa Burns suggested I take a deep dive into the studies of Stephen Heller (1813-1888).

I have of course encountered many of Heller’s études over the years, thanks to their inclusion in various anthologies and syllabus publications, but I had not previously considered them as a body of work in more depth. Doing so has proven to be genuinely rewarding, offering perhaps the perfect answer to the question above…