Faber Music – Page 3

The Piano Duet Anthology

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

There can be no doubting Faber Music’s commitment to their rapidly expanding series of keenly-priced but tastefully presented bumper Piano Anthologies, the latest of which focuses on intermediate piano duet repertoire with a contemporary and appealing twist.

This is the tenth anthology in the series, and having reviewed them all here, regular readers probably now know the drill. I like these books, they are gorgeously presented and deliver an engaging and distinctive range of music. I have also seen that they have proved popular with my adult students and in our piano club.

So let’s check out the latest addition…

The Night Time Piano Anthology

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Faber Music’s Piano Anthology series understandably continues to prove popular with late intermediate to early advanced players looking for a bounty of fresh music in beautifully presented, keenly priced, and durable volumes.

In recent years, new additions have generally appeared in the autumn, and the most recent was the excellent Harry Potter Piano Anthology.

Hot on its heels, Faber now bring us another collection, this time resuming the series standard of offering a far broader, more varied selection of pieces for intermediate to advanced players, and celebrating an ever-popular theme: night time.

Piano Player • Classical Chillout

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Faber Music’s Piano Player series of themed collections for late intermediate players have been a consistent highlight of the past two years, each deliciously presented volume sporting the distinctive artwork of Edward Bawden, and proving especially apt and popular with adult music enthusiasts.

The full series has been reviewed here on Pianodao, and with consistent praise. Not only so, but adult learners have been bringing the books to their lessons at my studio, and shown themselves similarly keen.

The latest addition to the series is Classical Chillout, and can be welcomed with particular enthusiasm, and not just by existing fans of the series. This new collection could also be an answer to the prayers of those still searching for the perfect, if elusive, mix of relaxing piano solos.

So let’s breathe in, and take a mindful look…

Paul Harris • How to Sight Read

The Pianodao Bookshelf
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Leading music educator Paul Harris’ Improve Your Teaching! series of slim, affordable handbooks has grown into a formidable and essential resource for instrumental teachers, notable previous titles including Teaching Beginners, Simultaneous Learning, The Virtuoso Teacher and Unconditional Teaching.

For the latest title in the series, Harris revisits the topic of sight-reading, with which his name has been rather indelibly linked over the years thanks to his bestselling series of Improve Your Sight-Reading! student books. Subtitled, “The art and science behind developing sight-reading technique”, the book offers itself as:

“A companion to the Improve your sight-reading! series revealing sight-reading as a technique that can be both taught and learnt by all who wish to develop it.”

To find out more, read on…

Yiruma • 20th Anniversary Solo

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

“These works were the simplest way of capturing a specific moment and feeling when I wrote them. I would like to share these moments with you now and wish sincerely that my music be a hand to hold along the winding path of life.”

So says Lee Ru-ma, the South Korean pianist and composer better known by his stage name Yiruma, in his introduction to the 20th Anniversary collections of his piano scores just published by Faber Music.

Yiruma first came to my attention, and that of many piano teachers around the world, through his composition River Flows in You, a runaway hit in the new easy listening piano firmament, for a time even eclipsing the ubiquitous music of Ludovico Einaudi and others in that space.

River Flows in You has appeared in (and subsequently disappeared from) a number of popular piano collections in recent years, and in different guises, sometimes accompanied by other popular hits by Yiruma, notably Kiss the Rain and If I Could See You Again, which have similarly become favourites with players and listeners alike.

For the new Faber Music 20th Anniversary publications, Yiruma has scored 14 of his personal favourites himself, and not once but twice, because his definitive versions now appear in both Original and Easy versions.

For their part, Faber Music have given the two alternative editions a matching and lavish presentation that double as gorgeous commemorations of this milestone and practical scores that are a joy to play from…

Jóhann Jóhannsson • Piano Works

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Jóhann Jóhannsson (1969-2018) was an award-winning Icelandic composer, musician, and producer, who wrote music for a wide array of media including film, television, theatre and dance. With his passing in 2018, aged just 48, the world of music lost one of its brightest stars, still in the ascendent.

Faber Music celebrate this extraordinary talent with the publication of a new cloth-bound book, Jóhann Jóhannsson Piano Works, the subject of this review, in which they tell us,

“Jóhannsson’s work is characterised by a fusion of classical instrumentation and contemporary electronic elements and encompasses the diverse influences of Baroque, Minimalism, avant-garde and ambient music, as well as drone-based and electro-acoustic music.”

The book is undoubtedly a beautiful and important tribute.

Piano Player • Christmas Time

The Christmas Shortlist
Selected and reviewed by Andrew Eales

Regular readers will know that I am quite a fan of Faber Music’s Piano Player series, originally projected to include seven books, five of which are already available and reviewed here, with the final two anticipated for 2024.

With decorous covers sporting the artwork of Edward Bawden (1903-1989), a pull-out reproduction to keep and frame, and a mixed range of popular classics and tasteful arrangements geared towards adult intermediate players, the series has carved out a very particular and worthwhile niche.

Taking us unawares, Faber Music have just launched a new addition to the series. Not billed among the seven titles advertised so far, The Piano Player Christmas Time is more than just a welcome surprise…

The Pam Wedgwood Christmas Collection

The Christmas Shortlist
Selected and reviewed by Andrew Eales

Earlier this year, Faber Music released a brilliant compilation of jazzy pieces selected by Pam Wedgwood from her back catalogue of bestsellers. In my review of the Jazzin’ About Anthology, I described it as,

“a superb publication which I can truly recommend without reservation.”

Now Faber have followed it up with The Pam Wedgwood Christmas Collection, and the same high praise is due. Producing this book is certainly a smart and welcome move.

Wedgwood has an impressive archive of Christmas-themed music to mine, having produced several books of traditional, jazzy and contemporary seasonal music in the After Hours, Jazzin’ About, and Up Grade! series, not forgetting the excellent It’s Never Too Late to Play… Christmas collection.

With such a wealth of material to choose from, let’s find out what Wedgwood and Faber Music have picked…