PIANO EXOTICO: 28 DREAM JOURNEYS
As I write this it is a somewhat dull day in January; Christmas celebrations are a dim memory and holidays are too far in the future. Fortunately for me, Barbara Arens, after delighting my pupils with her Piano Vivace/Piano Tranquillo and 21 Amazingly Easy Pieces, takes us travelling to the most far-flung corners of the world with this collection of 28 ‘dream journeys’.
Arens began her studies at the Salzburg Mozarteum and, after a concert career performing primarily as a harpsichordist and organist, now composes for her piano pupils. She presently lives in Germany but has lived in Beirut, Dallas, San Francisco, Singapore, Salzburg, London and Munich, and the influences from the music of these places can be heard in this book of approximately elementary (Grade 2) to intermediate (Grade 5) standard pieces.
It would be tempting and easy to compose pastiches of the musical styles of India, Bali, Jamaica, the Balkans and Hawaii, but Arens captures much more than this as she evokes the very tastes, smells and people in ‘Singapore Sling Blues’, ‘Souvenir of Crete’ and ‘Hawaiian Waterfalls’ – and the many other pieces conjuring up exotic places. Better still, she floats them into our imaginations and puts them under our fingers. They are made easier to capture with downloadable files at www.breitkopf.com and performances by the composer herself on YouTube. I can see them being played by pupils as they study these countries in school, as they visit them on holiday, or as they dream about them on a dismal day. Highly recommended for escapism and pianistic enjoyment.
MOVIE MUSIC FAVOURITES: EIGHT ARRANGEMENTS FOR PIANO DUET
If you have worn out your copy of Mike Cornick's Tea for Two duets, this collection is for you and your pupils. When I read the title I expected music from Chocolat and La La Land but this is actually better: eight classic pieces that have been used in films, arranged for duet at intermediate/Grade 4-5 level with a CD that includes recordings of each duet as well as rehearsal tracks for both primo and secondo parts. Cornick is on my list of great, reliable arrangers, and I would buy any arrangement of his blind! I was not disappointed by these duets. They include Bach's ‘Prelude in C’ (in F here); Satie's ‘Gymnopedie No.1’ and ‘Gnossienne No.1’; Strauss’ ‘Blue Danube’; Mozart's ‘Piano Concerto No.21’ (Elvira Madigan); ‘Dance of the Hours’, Ponchielli; the ‘Love Theme’ from Romeo and Juliet; and Chopin's ‘Ballade No.1 in G minor’. They are all cleverly arranged and true to the originals, and will be very well used by myself and my pupils.
JAZZ SUITE IN COLOR
It is always a delight to see a Martha Mier book arrive in the post, and this one is an absolute gem. It is part of Alfred's Recital Suite Series (short collections of new pieces that can be played in a recital) and is a set of three pieces in jazzy styles, set at intermediate/approximately Grade 4 level. The cover is attractive and glossy, and the notes are big enough without being patronisingly ‘big-note’. The pieces are ‘Fluorescent Pink Jazz’, ‘Sapphire Blue Blues’, and ‘Spring Green Rag’. ‘Fluorescent Pink Jazz’ is a cracker with its lovely crunchy chords, lyrical middle section and fabulous final six-octave white-note glissando ending – teenage pianists standby!
This is bound to be a great favourite with pupils and, as well as being part of the recital suite, would be an enjoyable competition piece or GCSE practical offering. It would also make a very popular grade exam piece. ‘The Sapphire Blue Blues’ is not overtly bluesy but deliciously lyrical and slightly melancholic: a delight. ‘Spring Green Rag’ captures all the style of a typical ragtime piece but at intermediate level with its manageable left-hand leaps, chromatic melodies, right-hand syncopations and some lovely scrunchy chords – very reminiscent of Mier's Jazz, Rags and Blues series. What can I say? I love it.
