Schirmer – Pianodao

Discovering Heller’s Studies

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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For many years, Burgmüller’s 25 Easy and Progressive Studies Op.100 have been a mainstay of my teaching, embraced by students as enjoyable piano pieces, while being immensely useful for addressing so many of the technical challenges of the Classical and Romantic piano literature. I consider this collection as near-essential as anything else found in the pedagogy repertoire.

And to support my students and others, I have recorded Burgmüller’s Op.100, compared various editions, and considered his more advanced Op.105 and Op.109 studies here: Discovering Burgmüller.

But where to for similar material for the player who wants more, either as a supplement or follow-on? I have at times used attractive études by Bertini (reviewed here) and Czerny, but recently my colleague and friend Lisa Burns suggested I take a deep dive into the studies of Stephen Heller (1813-1888).

I have of course encountered many of Heller’s études over the years, thanks to their inclusion in various anthologies and syllabus publications, but I had not previously considered them as a body of work in more depth. Doing so has proven to be genuinely rewarding, offering perhaps the perfect answer to the question above…

Discovering Burgmüller

Pianodao Music Library

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

Burgmüller’s three collections of piano etudes, Op.100, Op.105 and Op.109 have been cornerstones of the piano pedagogy literature for over a century and a half, and remain as popular today as ever.

In this short article I will look at each of the three, share my own recordings of Op.100, compare and recommend good editions for those wanting to study these brilliant pieces.

Journey Through the Classics

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Amidst the understandable and deserved popularity of new contemporary music collections, I am happy to find that there is still a demand for more traditional pedagogic piano music.

Players and teachers often ask me for recommendations of piano collections devoted to the core classical and pedagogic repertoire, and there are many strong choices.

Here in the UK, these include the various graded collections produced by ABRSM, Faber Music and others. Meanwhile, publishers based in countries less influenced by our exam system have produced alternatives which can be rather freer in their content, looser in their boundaries and framework, a point which will particularly appeal to the growing number of teachers keen to eschew a curriculum that is essentially dictated by exam boards.

Among the best repertoire resources I have come across, take a look at Journey Through the Classics, a superb series compiled, edited (and with recordings) by the eminent American educator Jennifer Linn, published worldwide by Hal Leonard.

As I dig into (and colloquially “dig”) the series, why not come and join me for the Journey… I promise it’s a good one!

Harry T. Burleigh: Through Moanin’ Pines

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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I have pleasure in sharing my recording of a piece I first discovered in the collection Four Early 20th Century Piano Suites by Black Composers, published by Schirmer edition, and which I have subsequently included in my Yorktown Music/Hal Leonard anthology The Joy of Graded Piano: Grade Five collection, which you can find out more about here.

Henry Thacker (“Harry”) Burleigh (1866–1949) was an American composer and professional baritone. As a composer he was a pioneer in the development of a characteristically American music.

Burleigh introduced many classically trained musicians and composers (including Dvořák) to spirituals, while also including this wonderfully rich and expressive music in his own compositions.

Through Moanin’ Pines is the first of the six pieces which make up his 1907 piano suite “From the Southland”, his only solo piano work. The movement is accompanied by the following text:

“Along de desolate roads we pass
Thro’ lonely pines and wither’d grass: –
De win’ moans in de branches tall
An’ a heavy sadness broods o’er all.”

Here is my recording.

Piano: Andrew Eales (Nord Grand, Amber Upright piano)
Recording & Mastering: Ableton Live Suite 11, 22 October 2021