Mona Rejino – Pianodao

A Contemporary Sonatina Collection

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
Find out more: About Pianodao Reviews

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…

Impressions of New York

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
Find out more: About Pianodao Reviews

in my recent review of Texan composer Mona Rejino’s excellent Reflections and Relaxations (which you can read here), I both mentioned and praised her Impressions of New York, another fairly recent publication in Hal Leonard’s ‘Composer Showcase’ series.

In this review I am returning to that 2021 title to tell you more about it, having intended on reviewing it here and introducing it to the Pianodao Music Library for some time.

Subtitled A Jazz Sonatina, the three movement work was originally commissioned as a trio for viola, cello and piano, and by the Music Teachers National Association in the US for their 2019 National Conference.

Encouraged by its reception, her editor and husband, Rejino subsequently arranged Impressions of New York as the solo piano Jazz Sonatina reviewed here…

Reflections & Relaxations

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
Find out more: About Pianodao Reviews

There has been a spate of music books offering calming, relaxing piano music of late, and this new title from Dallas-based piano pedagogue Mona Rejino looks, on the surface, to be another addition to that growing trend. However, it proves to be something a little different, as we’ll discover in this review…