Romantic Repertoire

Dora Pejačević • Early Pieces

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

The Schott Student Edition series continues to expand, offering outstanding new collections of pedagogy classics and rediscovered gems. I have reviewed several previous titles here, and was delighted to recently receive a superb addition to the set: Dora Pejačević: Early Piano Pieces.

By happy synchronicity, I was teaching at The Thinking Pianist course just a few days after the Schott Music volume landed in my postbox, and during the week my faculty colleague and friend Ivana Gavrić gave an illuminating lecture recital introducing Dora Pejačević.

Having commercially recorded and performed the music of her famous compatriot, Ivana has a natural affinity with Pejačević’s music, promoting it with sensitivity, balanced enthusiasm, and retelling the story of this formidable Croatian cultural icon. Having packed Dora Pejačević’s Early Piano Pieces for the trip, we were able to discuss this new volume, and I am indebted to Ivana for her insights.

Meanwhile, introducing the Schott Music book, its editor Monika Twelsiek (who has previously brought us many outstanding publications in the Schott catalogue) tells us,

“Dora Pejačević (1885-1923) is a star in Croatia: streets, schools and cafés are named after her, there is a perfume and a sparkling wine bearing her name, and a statue named ‘Dora’ is awarded at the Croatian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. Outside Croatia, however, the composer only became known late. After having been forgotten for many years, her works did not reach the public until the 1980s…
Who is this woman?“

Mélanie Bonis • Children’s Albums

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

The superb Schott Student Edition series has recently grown to include two very welcome volumes of music for children by the Late Romantic French composer Mélanie Bonis.

The Album pout les tout-petits Op.103 includes 20 pieces suitable for elementary players (around UK Grades 1-3), while the eight pieces that make up Scènes enfantines Op.92 will suit intermediate players (UK Grades 4-6).

Both books are edited by the indomitable Melanie Spanswick, who has also written an excellent introduction which includes a composer biography, and several pages of in-depth teaching notes.

These excellent volumes are an important addition to the pedagogy repertoire, and in this review I will consider each of the two sets after first briefly introducing the composer…

Mendelssohn • Masterpieces

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

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…

Dvořák • Suite in A major

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

The significant and superb solo piano output of Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) remains one of the most neglected of any major Romantic Era composer, so when a new recording or edition appears it is always cause for joy.

Among the publishers, it is no surprise that Bärenreiter are the most dedicated to promoting Dvořák’s work, as they are with all Czech composers, and the most recent addition to their catalogue of this composer’s piano music arrived a few months back: a new edition of the Suite in A major Op.98, a substantial five-movement work suitable for players at diploma level.

Discovering Backer Grøndahl

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

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.

Fanny Hensel • Easter Sonata

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

With a reawakened interest in the music of forgotten women composers, evidenced by the numerous collections and books published over recent years, it’s no wonder that the music of Fanny Mendelssohn Bartholdy, later Hensel, (1805-1847) is enjoying a long-overdue renaissance.

Fanny Hensel’s “Ostersonate” (Easter Sonata) was composed in 1828, but remarkably, the recent edition from Bärenreiter is actually the first ever urtext version of this beguiling music, based on an autograph which was long inaccessible due to being in private hands.

Combining excellence with innovation, the typically superb Bärenreiter critical edition itself is accompanied by an included second volume, which offers a complete facsimile reproduction in colour of Fanny’s autograph manuscript.

Nearly two centuries after its composition, it’s surely now time to rediscover and celebrate this tremendous work, which is suitable for performance by players at associate diploma level and beyond…

Smetana • Easy Piano Pieces

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Earlier in this, the year in which we mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Czech Romantic Era composer Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884), I wrote an overview of his most significant solo piano works, which are published by Bärenreiter.

Noting that most of Smetana’s output is virtuosic, I mentioned that for those in search of some easier pieces, Bärenreiter were planning a collection in their Easy Piano Pieces and Dances series. That more accessible collection is now available, so I am bringing you this review.

Josef Suk • Easy Piano Pieces

Pianodao Music Library
Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales

Josef Suk (1874-1935) was a prominent Czech composer and violinist, born in Křečovice, near Prague. A student of the famous composer Antonín Dvořák, he expertly bridged the gap between the late Romantic era and the emerging modernist style of the next generation; he is celebrated for seamlessly infusing Czech music with a sense of modernity while preserving its nationalistic roots.

Suk composed much for the piano, and twelve of his more accessible works have now been brought together for a new collection in Bärenreiter’s popular Easy Piano Pieces and Dances series, offering an ideal introduction to this repertoire…