Hal Leonard – Page 2

Calming Christmas Carols for Graded Piano

Selected and reviewed by Andrew Eales
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With so many Christmas-themed piano books on the market, and with yet more appearing to challenge our established favourites each year, it takes something quite special and distinctive to stand out from the crowd.

Calming Christmas Carols for Graded Piano, published by The Willis Music Company, is certainly unique, and may prove to be one of those ‘must-have classics’ that we didn’t realise we needed until it appeared.

Delivering “15 Peaceful Pieces for Piano Grades 1-5” freshly arranged by Alistair Watson, with three designated for each level from Grade 1 to Grade 5, the collection obviously has one eye on the education market, the other on appealing to the vogue for music with a relaxed vibe.

Cleverly, and rather uniquely positioned as the progressive collection to which learners can reliably return each year throughout their Elementary to Intermediate piano journey, and thus maximising the book’s continuing value to teachers, learners, and parents, the concept is certainly attractive. So let’s find out how well it lives up to its promise…

Music We Might Have Played

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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This year is my 50th at the piano and, oh my, how the piano scene has changed in half a century! So it is fitting that the latest publication I have had the honour of working on celebrates the positive transformation of our repertoire in recent years.

Written in partnership with the brilliant musician, composer, broadcaster, and writer Jack Pepper, and with a foreword by Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, Music We Might Have Played brings together nineteen solo pieces in a wide range of styles, written by composers from around the world whose piano music we were both unaware of when growing up.

Carolyn Miller • Piano Expressions

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Carolyn Miller is one of America’s most beloved educational composers, her many collections of original pieces and other educational titles consistent bestsellers in the States.

Miller’s many Willis Music Company titles are not as well known here in the UK, although the recent inclusion of her music in the Joy of Grade 1 Piano book, the Willis Student Recital Collection, and growing interest from the exam boards has begun to increase her visibility.

Selecting music for The Willis Student Recital Collection, I played through several complete collections of Miller’s music, and found myself spoilt for choice. Having become familiar with her previous work, I would say that her latest collection is among her best yet, and for those wanting to discover her music, it is a great place to start.

Piano Expressions has a delightfully imaginative and eye-catching cover, and brings us a generous selection of 17 brand new “captivating solos for the advancing pianist”. Suitable for players at UK Grade 2 to 5 level, they have an appeal that will surely make them popular with players and audiences, and a concise educational logic that will equally appeal to teachers.

The Eugénie Rocherolle Collection

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Eugénie Rocherolle (1936-2025) was born and raised in New Orleans. The music of the city would inspire her compositions throughout her life. She also spent formative time in France, studying with the legendary Nadia Boulanger in Paris, and later returning to explore the country with her growing family.

Although her career as a published composer began with choral and band music, Rocherolle’s teaching expertise and pianistic instincts soon propelled her to be one of the top educational piano composers of her generation.

In her later decades, Hal Leonard’s Eugénie Rocherolle Series brought well-deserved international fame, and grew to include more than 30 collections of original piano solos, duets, and superbly crafted arrangements of pop and jazz favourites.

Eugénie Rocherolle’s Reflective Piano Solos

Eugénie Rocherolle’s ‘Reflective Piano Solos” is the latest addition to the many superb publications in her Hal Leonard series. But is it what it seems?

Eugénie Rocherolle’s Romantic Stylings

“Romantic Stylings” is as easy to recommend as it is to review: eight superb and varied intermediate pieces, which are bound to bring joy to players at around UK Grade 4-5 level.

Eugénie Rocherolle’s Fantasia del Tango

For those who enjoy the tango genre, this collection is an easy winner, offering engaging material delivered with excellent attention to the needs of the intermediate player, and with genuine stylistic affection.

In Summer 2024, while preparing a compilation of her favourite works, Rocherolle was diagnosed with stomach cancer. The heart-breaking news focused attention on completing this long-planned anthology of pieces for Late Intermediate players (around UK Grades 5-6).

The Eugénie Rocherolle Collection includes two new, final compositions, and was ultimately completed by Hal Leonard editor Charmaine Siagian following the composer’s passing away on 4th March 2025.

Junior Performer

Educational Resources

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Pam Wedgwood’s Up Grade! series from Faber Music has been a fixture of the piano education library for many years, and one of her most understandable successes. Based on a simple concept of offering “light relief between the grades”, the books have proved a popular step in the pianist’s development.

Entering the same space, The Willis Music Company have just released a new set of books from Christopher Hussey which give the concept of “between grades” repertoire a welcome update. Junior Performer includes three books, each covering two grades, thus bridging the gaps from Beginner to Grade 5.

Rather boldly describing itself as “The Perfect Resource for Between Piano Grades”, the series clearly has ambitions, and I have already heard from Pianodao readers keen to know how well it succeeds…

A Contemporary Sonatina Collection

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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The sonatina has an important history within the piano literature, with famous examples by Beethoven, Clementi, Kuhlau, and others giving players an early introduction to the rewards of playing a multiple movement work within the aesthetic conventions of a classical sonata.

With the Romantic and 20th century preference for shorter character pieces sporting more imaginative titles, the sonatina’s abstract narrative has been less in vogue, although the twentieth century saw notable additions by Kabalevsky, Khachaturian, Bartök, Sibelius, and Ravel.

Hal Leonard clearly hope to reestablish the genre with the publication of a superb new collection of brand new sonatinas by leading piano composers of our time: Daniel Light, Phillip Keveren, Glenda Austin, Mona Rejino, Logan Evan Thomas, Alexander Zhu, William Gillock, Wayne Bucknor, and Kevin Olson…

Alexis Ffrench’s ‘Classical Soul’

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Alexis Ffrench has long described himself on his website as a “classical-soul pioneer”, but I think it is with his most recent recordings that his unique style has most distinctly come of age.

The aptly-named Classical Soul Vol.1 was released as a 21-track album in late 2024, including 15 new compositions interleaved with short, reverent cover versions of five soul classics: Killing Me Softly with his Song (Roberta Flack), A Change is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke), At last (Etta James), I Say a Little Prayer (Aretha Franklin) and Ain’t No Sunshine (Bill Withers).

This has been followed by a second album, Classical Soul, Vol.1: The Solo Piano Collection. Dispensing with the atmospheric backings and guest musicians of the first release, French here delivers solo versions of his 15 original compositions only, now supplemented by a ‘felt piano’ remix of Reverie and two new bonus tracks.

These 17 originals have now been transcribed and published in a sheet music collection from Hal Leonard, Selections from Classical Soul, Vol.1, the subject of this review…

Peaceful Piano Solos • Musicals

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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When Hal Leonard’s Peaceful Piano Solos first appeared a few years back, the publisher’s intention seemed to be to create a tasteful but inexpensive collection of 30 popular ambient contemporary pieces from the collective pens of Ludovico Einaudi, Yann Tiersen, Max Richter, et al, tapping into the significant popularity of the genre.

The series subsequently grew to include several volumes, and become a staple found in music shops everywhere. So far we’ve enjoyed Easy, Soundtracks, Classical, Christmas, Jazz, and Pop variations on the theme, and while the cover image has remained consistent, presented in a lovely range of pastel hues, the music within has somewhat branched away from that original concept.

For the latest addition, Peaceful Piano Solos: Musicals, the pastel colours have been replaced with a vivid red cover, and the 30 pieces within include a fair number of climactic curtain-call rousers.

This collection may not be entirely “peaceful”, but I suspect it will nevertheless, and deservedly, be popular…