The Classical Era

Beethoven • Masterpieces

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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The new Masterpieces for Piano series from Edition Peters has proved one of the most exciting additions to the piano player’s library in recent months, and I have spared no blushes in my praise of the Schubert and Mozart titles.

Compiled by Roland Erben from the publishing house’s iconic Green Series of publications, each of these bumper books appears with an eye-catching cover artwork, newly engraved scores presented on luxury cream paper, and offers a significant cross-section of each composer’s solo music for intermediate to advanced pianists.

Joining the series, Beethoven Masterpieces for Piano is now the third title, completing an initial trilogy (and let’s face it, there is plenty of scope for the series to grow!). Once again, the publication offers a stunningly presented and keenly priced volume of indispensable music, but let’s consider whether it lives up to the excellence of the first two bumper anthologies…

Mozart • Masterpieces

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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When I recently reviewed Edition Peters’ stunning new collection of music by Franz Schubert, I concluded:

“This is an indisputably rich trove of musical treasures from one of the world’s most beloved composers, so those not already familiar with these pieces really need to do themselves a favour and get a copy. There are of course many great, and comprehensive, editions of Schubert’s piano works, but for a compendium that offers such a range, I can think of no equal.”

I mentioned in that review that the Schubert volume was the first of three, and in this review I will consider whether the second, Mozart Masterpieces for Piano, lives up to the same high standards.

This 144-page bumper edition offers 38 works, large and small, and is once again billed as delivering:

“Essential repertoire for intermediate to advanced level pianists.”

With several pieces from the child composer’s early London Notebook, leading to the complete Sonata in C (KV 545), F (KV 280) and A major (KV 331), and the exquisite Adagio in B minor (KV 540), the anthology includes music ranging from around Grade 2 to Associate Diploma level. The full list of pieces follows…

Schubert • Masterpieces

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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The consolidation of Edition Peters within Faber Music continues to prove a fruitful alliance with the arrival of a new series, Masterpieces for Piano, bringing together Faber’s penchant for producing bumper anthologies with Edition Peters deep and respected classical catalogue.

The first arrival announcing the series is a stunning new 176-page compendium of music by Franz Schubert.

With selections suitable for players from intermediate to advanced level, taking in easy Ecossaises and other dances, and progressing through Moment Musicals to several popular Impromptus and the complete Sonata in A major Op.120, this could well be the ultimate Schubert collection for enthusiastic adult players and students…

Schubert • The Piano Sonatas

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Once in a while we enjoy the arrival of a genuine milestone in classical music publishing. Bärenreiter’s stunning 2019 release of Jonathan Del Mar’s new edition of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas was such and occasion, and I reviewed that publication here.

Though not introduced with so loud a fanfare, Bärenreiter have also recently completed their new three-volume survey of the complete Schubert Piano Sonatas, a project several years in the making.

Edited by Walburga Litschauer and based on the urtext of the New Schubert-Edition, this set of publications breaks new ground in scholarship while also offering unrivalled performing editions of this seminal, if still too little-known, cycle of masterpieces…

My First Schubert

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Schott Music’s My First Composers collections continue to prove one of the most quirky and enjoyable series of recent years.

With their combination of covers that resemble childrens’ storybooks, and content that includes music up to Grade 8 and beyond, they equally suit child prodigies and older players with a self-deprecating sense of fun!

I have previously been impressed with My First Beethoven (reviewed here), Haydn (here), Schumann (here) and Tchaikovsky (here). Each of these delivers a generous mixture of classics and lesser-known pieces, beautifully presented on cream paper within, and freshly edited by Wilhelm Ohmen.

The latest addition to the series is devoted to the music of Franz Schubert, delivering 37 solo pieces and 10 duets, and seems to me another immediate winner…

The Beethoven Sonatas: Where to Start?

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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In this review I will be looking at two recent volumes from publisher Henle Verlag which between them offer an excellent introduction to Beethoven’s 35 Piano Sonatas, in a superb new edition edited by Norbert Gertsch and concert pianist Murray Perahia.

The two volumes are:

Five Easy Piano Sonatas, Henle 1391
Five Famous Piano Sonatas, Henle 1392

Variations on a Waltz: The Diabelli Project

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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In early 1819, the well-known composer and music publisher Anton Diabelli (1781-1858), sent a 32-bar waltz to the most reputable composers of the Austrian Empire, together with an invitation to submit their variations for publication as a collaborative collection.

Among those who responded to the call were Czerny, Hummel, Moscheles, Schubert, and the eleven-year-old Franz Liszt, and from their contributions Diabelli was able to assemble a set of 50 Variations on his theme.

We only know for sure of one composer who explicitly declined Diabelli’s invitation to collaborate: Beethoven. It remains unclear why he did not want to participate directly, but he nevertheless composed his own monumental set of 33 Variations, not directly for Diabelli but exploring alternative avenues of publication.

Beethoven’s 33 Variations on a Waltz Op.120 quickly established itself not only as one of his most important keyboard works, but one of the pinnacle summits of the entire classical piano repertoire, entirely overshadowing the rest of the project.

Delivered for the recent Beethoven 250 anniversary year, Mario Aschauer’s landmark new scholarly performing edition of the Beethoven Diabelli Variations is an essential score for serious students of the work, published by Bärenreiter, BA 9657.

Perhaps even more interestingly however, Bärenreiter have also brought us their edition BA 9656, which includes Beethoven’s masterpiece together with Aschauer’s new edition of the 50 Variations on a Waltz composed by his contemporaries in response to Diabelli’s call.

Let’s take a closer look at this ambitious and exciting publication…

Is this the definitive KV 331?

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Published in 1784, Mozart’s Sonata in A major, with its famous Rondo Alla Turca finale, is one of the most popular works in the entire classical piano repertoire.

A couple of years ago, a newly resurfaced section of the lost autograph prompted Bärenreiter to issue an up-to-date Urtext edition of this celebrated piece, which appeared as edition BA 9186.

Now, another source has surfaced with the appearance of a previously unknown contemporaneous copy of the complete manuscript, which has prompted the esteemed publisher to update their urtext edition again.

The newly discovered source by a professional Viennese copyist sheds new light on the numerous discrepancies between autographs and first editions of many Mozart sonatas. It supports the assumption that the revision of the text for the first edition resulted from the change of target group from Mozart’s inner circle to an audience of connoisseurs and amateurs, but that this did not render the original autograph text obsolete; rather, both versions of the sonata represent historical realities.

According to the publishers,

“To achieve a truly faithful scholarly-critical performance edition of Mozart’s sonata, the editor, Mario Aschauer, has set new editorial standards and offers the most innovative methodological approach of our time by presenting the musical texts of the autograph and the original print separately without merging the sources editorially to a new text. On the basis of the newly discovered source, it is possible for the first time to reconstruct the autograph of this famous sonata and offer it to the performer as a self-contained playable version.”

Exciting stuff, so let’s take a closer look!