music reviews

Suzanne Schons

Autumn 2020: New Music and Materials

(S3) SAPLINGS: 21 INTERMEDIATE PIANO SOLOS published by Red Leaf Pianoworks  While presenting at and attending the Canadian Music Teachers Conference last summer in Winnipeg, I was introduced to a new collection hot off the press called Saplings. This collection is written with the intermediate pianist in mind and features eleven Canadian...
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Todd Van Kekerix

Summer 2020: New Music & Materials

Emilie Lin has arranged five traditional melodies in her publication Hearts of Asia: Chinese Folk Songs, published by FJH. The first four pieces have lovely, cantabile melodies which are divided between the hands. They also have simple, beautifully written duet parts which could be played by a teacher, parent, or student at the early-intermediate l...
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Suzanne Schons

Winter 2020: New Music & Materials Reviews

(S4) TOCCATA "HYGAGAN," OPUS 229by Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee From the FJH Contemporary Keyboard Sheets, Toccata "Hygagan" by Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee is an engaging and virtuosic late-intermediate piano solo.Born in Massachusetts, Rahbee is a first-generation Armenian American. She was a piano major at Juilliard, and a self-taught composer who ...
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Ernest J. Kramer
Where is the Beethoven review I submitted that was supposed to appear in this issue?
Friday, 11 December 2020 13:00
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Suzanne Schons

Autumn 2019: New Music & Materials

(S4-5) PIANO PIECES by Otilie Suková Very little is known about the composer Otilie Suková (1878–1905), yet a great deal is known about her famous father, Antonín Dvorák. Nonetheless, Bärenreiter Urtext has presented pianists with a gem: a collection of four short piano pieces by this relatively unknown composer. The p...
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Suzanne Schons

Summer 2019: New Music and Materials

(S2) Bastien New Traditions All In One Piano Course, 2B, 3A, 3B, by Lisa, Lori, and Jane Bastien. In a grand family tradition, these materials continue the recently published Bastien New Traditions All In One Piano Course by Lisa, Lori, and Jane Bastien. As with the first five levels in the new series (Primer A through 2A), Lessons, Theory, Techniq...
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Suzanne Schons

Spring 2019: New Music Reviews

 (S1-3) Imaginations Books 1 and 2, by Kevin Olson.  Kevin Olson has a knack for creating fresh and original sounds at every teaching level. While incorporating the reading, rhythmic, and technical skills needed to advance the piano student, Imaginations offers a wide variety of appealing pieces. With titles like "Android Attack," "Pengui...
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Susan Geffen

January/February 2019: New Music Reviews

(S3-4) Nocturnes in Minor: An Artistic Intermediate/Late Intermediate Collection for Solo Piano, by Jeanne Costello.  As a young pianist, I remember playing my first Chopin nocturne and thinking, "Now I'm really playing some difficult piano music." The piece left a lasting impression that, in many ways, hooked me on classical music, ...
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Susan Geffen

November/December 2018: New Music Reviews

(S3-4) Big Phat Jazz Piano Solos: 10 Big Phat Band Classics, arranged by Gordon Goodwin. (S3-4) If you're not familiar with the name "Gordon Goodwin," you probably haven't played in a high school jazz band in the last fifteen years or so. Goodwin's music has achieved near ubiquity in the jazz e...
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Susan Geffen

September/October 2018: First Looks, New Music Reviews

jingle-bells (S1-2) Jingle Bells, arranged by Wendy Stevens.
New Music Reviews Editor's note Ho, ho, ho! The holidays are on the horizon. We know how it is for piano teachers (we're teachers ourselves). We frantically run to the music store, hoping to snag our favorites before the teacher with 120 students cleans out the inventory. Clavier Companion is here to help. This issue's holiday reviews will help you...
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Deborah Rambo Sinn

July/August 2018: First Looks, New Music Reviews

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Six Progressive Sonatinas for the Piano Forte, Op. 36, by Muzio Clementi. Authentic Revised Edition ("With Considerable Improvements"), edited by Arthur Houle. This volume presents Clementi's ubiquitous Op. 36 Sonatinas in "the first and only definitive critical edition based on all the primary sources, with extensive notes on performance practice ...
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Susan Geffen

May/June 2018: New Music Reviews

Preludes
(S5) Pacific Preludes by Christopher Norton, CD recorded by Iain Farrington Christopher Norton is well known for his contemporary works in jazz, pop, Latin rhythms, and even musicals. His Pacific Preludes Collection is an interesting set of fourteen pieces based on folk melodies from countries bordering the Pacific Ocean: the United States, the Phi...
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Susan Geffen

May/June: New Music Reviews

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Festival Sonatina by Eugénie Rocherelle  The Classical sonatina is such a pedagogical treasure, as it provides great material to study and perform—teachers can spur growth in artistry, and students love the musically satisfying material. Eugénie Rocherolle's Festival Sonatina has two commonalities with the Classical sonatina: its three-mo...
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Susan Geffen

March/April 2018: First Looks: New Music Reviews

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(SE3-4) Fantasia del Tango: 6 Original Piano Solos and 1 Duet, by Eugénie Rocherolle. Fantasia del Tango augments The Eugénie Rocherolle Series with a volume of tangos by a perennial favorite pedagogical composer. Dedicated to Kathleen Theisen, the seven pieces in this collection (six solos and one duet) pres...
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Susan Geffen

Jan/Feb 2018: First Looks New Music Reviews

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(S1-2) 24 Short and Easy Pieces, Op. 1, Alexander Reinagle. Teachers and students enjoy Reinagle's pieces both for their charming writing and their accessibility to elementary students. Reinagle's biography, moreover, is a fun and interesting one that connects traditions of European classical music to life in the United States. Reinagle is tho...
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Susan Geffen

New music reviews: November/December 2017

(S3) From Sight to Sound: 6 Original PIano Solos, by Randall Hartsell.  Randall Hartsell composed From Sight to Sound to express the "interconnectedness of nature and our lives," and this collection contains six reflective pieces characterized by melodic simplicity and harmonic richness. The collection capitalizes on the piano's capacity for c...
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Susan Geffen

New music reviews: September/October 2017

Happy Holidays! (S1-4) We Three Kings, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and Deck the Hall Hoedown, arranged by Wendy Stevens. For teachers wanting some fun and creative options to spice up their holiday recitals, three new arrangements by Wendy Stevens are fantastic choices. "We Three Kings" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" even invite the audienc...
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Susan Geffen

New music reviews: July/August 2017

Bastien New Traditions All-in-one Piano Course by Lisa, Lori, and Jane Bastien  James Bastien's series Bastien Piano Basics has been a beloved staple in many piano studios for decades, and now, for a new generation of students, Bastien family members Lisa, Lori, and Jane have written Bastien New Traditions All In One Piano Course. Levels Prime...
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Susan Geffen

Closer look: Grade by Grade Piano

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A bonanza for creative teachers and students A teacher places a spanking-new repertoire book in front of a student. "We're going to learn a contemporary piece," the teacher says. The student notices, however, that the piece was composed in 1945. "How," the student asks herself, "can this music be contemporary?" Living human beings write new pieces ...
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Pete Jutras

New Music Reviews: May/June 2017

(S3) Aurora: 5 Original Solos Inspired by the North, by Naoko Ikeda. Japanese composer Naoko Ikeda composed five lyrical character pieces based upon "the Scandanavian landscapes of [her] own imagination." Aurora has the potential to motivate intermediate students, especially those who enjoy music with lyrical phrasing and expressive timing. Ikeda i...
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Susan Geffen

Closer Look May/June 2017: New Ways with Bach

(S4) Bach Meets Jazz: 15 Well-Tempered Classics, arranged by Phillip Keveren. Phillip Keveren's latest arrangements will entertain anyone who loves Bach. In Bach Meets Jazz, Keveren cleverly adds a jazzy spin to fifteen popular Bach works. All the original melodies in these two-to-three-page arrangements are recognizable throughout, and the setting...
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