June 2018 New Discoveries

The More The Merrier! 13 duets for 4-hand piano & everybody else… (Barbara Arens)

Perhaps the most effective publications on the educational market, are those written in response to the specific needs expressed by teachers. In the case of these duets, they came about through a discussion on the Piano Network UK Facebook group in which a number of teachers expressed a desire for more duets where, amongst other things, the primo part was not in unison. Out of those discussions came these 13 pieces for piano duet. There’s a good mixture of styles here, but as was requested, avoiding the tricky jazz rhythms which often trip pupils up. My own pupils have enjoyed trying these out over the past few weeks; ‘Tonight at Eight’ was a favourite, as was ‘Popcorn Addict’.

There are additional suggestions for the material to be adapted, including adding body percussion. A number of parts can also be adapted for melody instruments, of which a number of transposed parts are available from the publisher’s website (I couldn’t find them on the publisher’s website, so maybe they are to come soon…).

My only real gripe is that the print is very small. Pupils have also commented on this, and it does make for tricky reading in some places. It’s also meant that some of text directions are hard to read at speed. Although the publisher has indicated that some of the tricky page turns can be photocopied, with a slightly larger staff size, I suspect some of these could have been avoided. Unusually for duet books, the primo part is written directly above the secondo one. I have to be honest and say this isn’t my personal preference, but if doesn’t affect the enjoyment of the music.

Overall, the book is a useful addition to the duet repertoire. It needs a little unpicking, but staff size and page turns aside, the music itself is both appealing and accessible. At £10.95, it’s pretty good value too. Copies can be ordered direct from the publisher, Spartan Press, or from Musicroom.

Waterscape: for flute, oboe or violin and piano (Tim Knight)

This month, maestro Tim Knight released this new piece as a follow on from his Winterscape which was published last year. Waterscape is an evocative piece divided into three sections which run seamlessly into one another.

As always with Tim’s music, it’s both appealing to learn and appealing to play, and that goes for the piano part too. The instrumental part combines with the piano to produce an effective ensemble piece which would sit well in concerts and recitals…maybe even as an own-choice exam piece! I can’t speak for the other instruments, but the piece would well suit a Grade 5 flautist. It’s not yet on Musicroom, but you can order directly from the publisher, Spartan Press, here.

Mosaic, Vol. 2: 26 Easy Educational Works for Solo Piano 

If the sign of a good book is you can easily get lost in it while the clock goes round, this is a good book! I’ve just spent half an hour playing through this, and I can honestly say I played every single piece and liked it. Usually, when books are sent to me, I play a few, skip a few, and play a few more, but not with this one. Perhaps one of the strengths of this volume, as was the case with volume 1, is that by including works by 13 different composers, you really do get huge variety of styles and characters in the music, something often absent in one-composer volumes. Particular favourites were Simon Hester’s ‘A Simpler Life’, Andrew Eales’s ‘Frisbee’, Paul Poston’s ‘Promenade’ and Ben Crosland’s ‘Silver Lining’.

I’d suggest that the majority of pieces in this volume will suit pianists of around Grades 1-2 standard. As ever, it’s a beautifully presented and laid out book and excellent value (about 38p a piece!) The book can be ordered direct from the publisher, Editions Musica Ferrum here, and you can also buy volumes 1 and 2 in a bundle here. You can find my review of volume 1 here.

Hear a selection of the pieces here:

You can also hear more by subscribing to the Editions Musica Ferrum YouTube channel.