Editions Musica Ferrum

My Quirky & Lyrical Notebooks

Products featured here are selected for review by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS

It is always great to discover a new composer whose music makes an immediate and impressive mark. As reviewers, it’s perhaps these moments we look forward to the most.

In this review, I am happy to recommend two recently published music books by Angeline Bell, a Malaysian piano teacher based in the UK, who only discovered her gift for composing in March 2022 when, having contracted Covid she was forced to take time away from her usual teaching schedule.

Encouraged by her friends, Bell approached Editions Musica Ferrum owner Nikolas Sideris, who agreed to publish her music. Further spurred on by his enthusiasm, Bell quickly composed 40 pieces which she and Sideris have divided into two contrasting piano collections (suitable for intermediate players at around UK Grades 3-6), the subject of this review…

8 Great Duet Books 2022

THE PIANODAO MUSIC LIBRARY

Products featured here are selected for review by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS

My review of 8 Great Piano Duet Books published back in 2016 has been a popular post with readers ever since, proving that there’s plenty of interest in piano duet books.

Since then I have reviewed a trickle of other duet books, but ground to a halt during the pandemic. Meanwhile, more duet books have been amassing in my review backlog, and in this new round up I’ve got my paws on another 8 Great Duet Books for 2022.

For ease, I will introduce them in approximate order of difficulty…

Thanos Fotiadis: Welcome to Earth

THE PIANODAO MUSIC LIBRARY

Products featured here are selected for review by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS

Editions Musica Ferrum continue to deliver creative new music suitable for players of all ages and levels, showcasing interesting composers from around the world, the latest of whom is Thanos Fotiadis, a pianist, teacher and composer based in the Netherlands.

According to the publisher,

“Welcome to Earth is a collection of diverse solo piano pieces that capture the imagination of the piano player in multiple ways. Featuring a total of 10 short pieces, plus a bonus one in the end, each piece holds the interest of the pianist, or piano student, by moving from style to style with great ease, but always offering the personal touch of the composer.”

Let’s go exploring…

Philip Godfrey’s ‘Hotchpotch’

THE PIANODAO MUSIC LIBRARY

Products featured here are selected for review by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS

2022 is turning into a vintage year for excellent new music composed for elementary pianists. I’ve already raved about Victoria Proudler’s Piano Grades are Go! and Anna Robinson’s Cats on the Keys, and I’m equally excited about Philip Godfrey’s Hotchpotch, newly published by Editions Musica Ferrum.

This small collection offers ten new compositions, each one page long, suitable for players at around UK Grade 2 level. And it is great!

Read on to find out more and have a listen…

Andrew Eales: Fresh Air

THE PIANODAO MUSIC LIBRARY

Products featured here are selected for review by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS

I am delighted to announce that my composition Fresh Air has been selected and licensed by ABRSM for inclusion in their 2023-24 Grade 1 Piano Exam Pieces book.

The piece was originally composed for and published in the 2018 Editions Musica Ferrum collection Mosaic 1.

The composition is a gentle tune which I wrote in my head while walking in the local park with my dog Bella one lovely spring morning. The chords I’ve used mostly lack their bass note, giving a sense of weightlessness, as if floating in calm blue skies.

Here’s my recording of the piece, followed by my practice tips…

The Mosaic Series

THE PIANODAO MUSIC LIBRARY

Products featured here are selected for review by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS

Mosaic is a series currently comprising four music books, each showcasing fresh and varied repertoire newly commissioned and composed by piano educators from around the world.

The pieces are loosely graded, arranged in order of difficulty, compiled as books suitable for elementary, intermediate and advanced players, and published by Editions Musica Ferrum. A fifth book (reaching towards Grade 8 level) is currently planned.

I am honoured to be one of the composers featured in all four books, alongside such well-established names as Barbara Arens, Ben Crosland, June Armstrong and others.

The collections are a natural addition to the Pianodao Music Library, and while I obviously cannot ‘review’ them in quite the usual way, this article will introduce the series with an overview of the concept, several recordings, and hopefully sufficient information for readers to decide whether to take a closer look.

Josh Winiberg: Change

THE PIANODAO MUSIC LIBRARY

Products featured here are selected for review by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS

UK-based composer Josh Winiberg’s album Change was released back in 2018, delivering ten tracks of contemporary music in the vein of the hugely popular Ludovico Einaudi, who Winiberg respects and acknowledges as an important influence.

Winiberg’s ten compositions were originally recorded with piano, string quintet, guitars and electronics. It is a measure of the popularity of the recording and the quality of its music that a solo transcription for piano has now been published by Editions Musica Ferrum, the subject of this review.

Adventures & Accolades

THE PIANODAO MUSIC LIBRARY

Products featured here are selected for review by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS

Composer James Welburn (whose Musical Escapades collection I reviewed here, and his Reflections in Waltz right here) continues to impress with his latest publication.

Written “for the aspiring virtuoso”, this new addition to Welburn’s catalogue is alliteratively titled Adventures & Accolades. Comprising 14 short pieces, the collection is once again brought to us by the ever-brilliant Editions Musica Ferrum, while the recordings of the pieces are available on the composer’s website, or here:

In common with Welburn’s previous two publications, the music is suitable for intermediate players, although the pieces here are shorter than in his earlier collections, and have a wider variety of style, tending perceptibly towards the more jazzy.

Garreth Brooke: Apart, Together

FREE SHEET MUSIC DOWNLOAD
Courtesy of EDITIONS MUSICA FERRUM

The latest promotional FREE sheet music download exclusive for Pianodao readers is by composer Garreth Brooke: the wonderful Apart, Together from a forthcoming collection to be published by Editions Musica Ferrum next year.

Garreth’s recording of the piece has already been streamed more than 20,000 times on Spotify. Intermediate players and their teachers certainly won’t want to miss this!

Sound Stories, Riddles, Puzzles and Plays

THE PIANODAO MUSIC LIBRARY

Products featured here are selected for review by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS

The brilliantly inventive music of Bulgarian pianist and composer Borislava Taneva has steadily become one of the jewels of the Editions Musica Ferrum catalogue.

Taneva’s music appears in all three Mosaic books (which I have featured here and will revisit as the series continues to grow), and she has three titles of her own: Sound Stories (2016), and two volumes entitled Riddles, Puzzles and Plays.

Taneva’s music is strikingly creative, and the seam of pedagogy running though it is not simply good: it’s truly inspiring. So read on for a full review and overview…