Sheet Music Reviews
Includes contemporary works by Ben Crosland, a hefty 230-page volume of Beethoven from Wiener Urtext and ways to improve your scales from Faber
7 FOR SOLO PIANO THE PIANOTRAINER SCALES WORKBOOK Karen Marshall Faber ISBN10: 0-571-54189-5
This is a companion book to Faber’s awardwinning PianoTrainer series but can be used by any student that wants to improve their scales and arpeggios. All major and minor scales (in harmonic, melodic, and natural forms), arpeggios, and broken chords are printed both on a stave and with fingerings on top of a keyboard diagram. A few extras are included as well – there is an ‘activity page’ for each key which includes written exercises to help embed the scale pattern, 24 ‘scale coach’ tips on how to facilitate the learning process, and a brief exploration of other scales such as chromatics, blues, and modes. The material is sufficient to equip a student with the technical requirements of all major examining boards (although contrary items will need to be figured out), and the presentation of the book is ideally suited for use in the lesson environment. Highly recommended.
Ben Crosland Editions Musica Ferrum ISMN: 979-0-708147 -72-5
Editions Musica Ferrum is a relatively new publishing house, founded in 2012 by Nikolas Sideris, that is devoted to disseminating contemporary music. Ben Crosland (b.1968) is an outstanding British composer of educational piano music, with several pieces appearing on exam syllabuses, and this is his sixth album of music published by Musica Ferrum. The presentation is top notch, and, as the title indicates, this book includes seven pieces. Ranging in length from four to seven pages, and in difficulty from Grade 4 to 7, these are all dreamy and reflective pieces with Crosland’s characteristic contemporary harmonic language that will appeal to both young and old audiences. His music is always original and although the writing is pianistically conceived, there are stretches in a few pieces that will tax a small hand; the interplay of the hands in the final piece, titled Severn is awkward, but the watery effect is mesmerising. All the pieces are available to listen to on YouTube.
GLINKA ARR. BALAKIREV The Lark Henle ISMN: 979-0-2018-1455-1
In Balakirev’s sumptuous piano arrangement of Glinka’s song, The Lark, the haunting original melody is transposed from E minor to B flat minor, and the simple accompaniment is replaced with wonderful pianistic cascades and flourishes that ramp up the difficulty to associate diploma level. There are few publishers that print this piece individually, so Henle’s edition is particularly welcome, and anyone who has heard Evgeny Kissin’s masterly recording of the work will be interested to note that Henle have commissioned him to supply the fingering. The music lies so well under the hand that much of the fingering sorts itself out anyway, but some may find his suggestions for distributing the large chords between the hands in the introduction useful. Judicious placement of page-turns allows a seamless performance of the work and comments at the end of the volume document editorial decisions.
THE FABER MUSIC CONTEMPORARY PIANO ANTHOLOGY Faber Music ISBN10: 0-571-54158-5
The Faber Music Anthology series consists to date of volumes devoted to Christmas, Jazz, Soundtracks, and Easy piano music. These are all substantial books, around 200 pages long, with a polished presentation that justifies its premium price tag. Similar qualities feature in this volume of contemporary music, which contains no fewer than 52 pieces that range in difficulty from around Grade 4 to 7. All the music has similar relaxed, atmospheric characteristics – so much so, that one could be forgiven for thinking that there were four, rather than 40, different composers represented. Many of the pieces are repetitive and feature gradually changing chords or patterns, which makes it easier and quicker to absorb the material. There are popular works such as Nyman’s The Heart Asks Pleasure First, but there are also some lesser-known gems such as Zanarkand, composed by Nobuo Uematsu, which is a piece that I imagine will appeal to anyone inclined to explore this commendable anthology.
CHOPIN Trois Nouvelles Etudes Edition Peters ISMN: 979-0-57701 -575-0
This is part of Edition Peters’ ongoing New Critical Edition of Chopin’s Complete Works, which aims to present Chopin’s music from a ‘single best source’ of each piece, rather than trying to cobble together a definitive version from various sources. These three Etudes are lesser known than the Op 10 and Op 25 set but are ideal introductions to the genre and are approachable by Grade 8 pianists; the first Etude focuses on threes against fours, the second one is full of triplets against duplets, and the third calls for simultaneous staccato and legato touches in the right hand. In this edition, prepared by Roy Howat, only the composer’s original fingerings and pedal markings have been added: fingerings are sparse, but when they do appear, they are typically enlightening, such as the eleven consecutive thumbs on the final descending passage in the third. We can look forward to Peters’ publication of the complete Etudes in the near future.
BEETHOVEN Piano Pieces Wiener Urtext ISBN: 978-3-85055-7887/UT 50295
Wiener Urtext’s catalogue already includes a collection of Beethoven’s piano pieces edited by Alfred Brendel (UT 50003) that brings together all the composer’s significant shorter pieces. This new, 230-page volume is more exhaustive and contains all the music from UT 50003 plus 28 other works, most of which are without opus numbers. One of these extra pieces, titled ‘Ländler-like Dance’ was newly discovered by the editor (Jochen Reutter) at the beginning of 2020, and is published here for the first time. It is a 16bar piece that we wouldn’t take any notice of had it not been written by Beethoven, but it is an interesting historical document nevertheless, and Wiener Urtext have also made the piece available as a single copy (UT 50296). The book benefits from more spacious and clearer engraving compared to UT 50003, and the selection is definitely more comprehensive than Henle’s respective volume.