Contains:
"En Face Du Miroir (Facing The Mirror)"
- taken from the Isadar solo piano complete collection, "Red" (also available on SMP)

Sounds like: Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, Vince Guaraldi, Liz Story, George Winston, early Windham Hill solo piano artists

Transcribed by: David Shenton ( https://www.shentonmusic.com/ ) verbatim to the sound recording

Album & Songbook Review by: Kathy Parsons

Red is pianist/composer Isadar?s genre-defying tenth solo piano album and seventeenth independent release from the past twenty years. It is also the third installment in a trilogy of solo piano albums released in the past year - Reconstructed, a Will Ackerman-produced anthology of some of Isadar?s best piano pieces; O Christmas, Isadar?s second piano Christmas album; and now Red, a bittersweet love-themed album that took seven years to produce and that consists of the first new original solo piano material Isadar has released in more than ten years.

I have been reviewing and thoroughly enjoying Isadar?s releases since his second piano album, 1999?s Active Imagination, which still stands as one of my favorite recordings. Even though I have been a big fan for many years, I was still blown away by Isadar?s live performance in my house concert series in July 2010. The man has magic fingers and an extraordinary piano touch that are perfectly suited to express his imaginative, distinctive, and emotionally powerful music.

Isadar is also a singer/songwriter and an electronic musician who creates the music videos for much of his music, dramatizing the stories that inspired the songs. I will always be partial to Isadar?s piano albums because his voice and vision are unique, incorporating jazz, new age, pop, and classical stylings into a musical language all his own.

Red opens with ?Broken Valentine,? a free-flowing expression of heartbreak and the broad range of emotions that go with it, alternating between grief and confusion then shifting to perhaps anger and resignation - a great beginning. The title track conveys the freedom of an improvisation while weaving together a variety of upbeat themes. ?The Man Who Broke My Heart? is energetic and in constant swirling motion - also very free and from deep within. ?The Stairwell? is darker and much more mysterious, overflowing with Isadar?s intriguing accented rhythms and picturesque compositional style. My favorite track is the almost nine-minute ?Letting Go,? a piece that intertwines a series of musical vignettes into a powerful, colorful musical collage. I love the way Isadar seamlessly goes from flowing and smooth to a bouncy jazz style to high drama without missing a beat. Great stuff! ?En Face Du Miroir (Facing the Mirror)? is much lighter, with fingers dancing nimbly around the piano keyboard. The album closes with ?Blood ... Thicker Than Water,? again a combination of changing themes that could well be a musical family portrait - different personalities working separately and as a unit, bound together by the unseen ties that keep families together through thick and thin.

Isadar has created another piano masterpiece that should be more widely heard than his previous releases due to the success of Reconstructed. I hope so, anyway! Red is available from isadar.com, Amazon, iTunes, and CD Baby. Very highly recommended!

Isadar?s Red: Solo Piano Sheet Music Collection is a note-for-note transcription of all seven pieces from Isadar?s 2013 CD/download release by the same name. The music was transcribed by David Shenton (shentonmusic.com) with clear, concise notation that includes dynamics, pedaling and metronome settings.

Isadar is an amazing pianist with a style all his own, so this isn?t a book that most pianists will be able to just sit down and play. It will take some work and attention to detail to get this music right, but it will be well worth the effort. Having the recording for handy reference would be a big help.

Rhythms are often complex and syncopated, but are usually repeated within each piece, so once you have them, the rest will follow fairly easily. There are only a few chords with a reach of more than an octave and none of the key signatures are terribly difficult. The layout and spacing of the music is excellent, and the paper stock is a bright white 9?x12? format with a stapled binding.

If you enjoy listening to Isadar?s music, I?m sure you will enjoy playing it, too! This songbook is available from isadar.com. Recommended!

The songs with their key signatures and the number of pages is listed below:

Broken Valentine - C minor (3 flats) - 4 pages
Red - A minor (0 sharps or flats) - 5 pages
The Man Who Broke My Heart - A minor - 6 pages
The Stairwell - F# minor (3 sharps) - 7 pages
Letting Go - F minor (4 flats) / C minor (3 flats) - 8 pages
En Face Du Miroir (Facing the Mirror) - Ab (4 flats) / F minor/ Bb minor (5 flats) / Db (5 flats) - 7 pages
Blood ... Thicker Than Water - A Minor/ C (0) / F (1 flat) - 7 pages

Isadar is an artist on both Enlightened Piano Radio & Whisperings Solo Piano Radio, the latter featuring some of today's biggest names in solo piano music, including Ludovico Einaudi, David Nevue, Brian Crain, Kevin Kern, Robin Spielberg, Michele McLaughlin, Philip Wesley and over 300 more...

Also available as sheet music in physical songbooks, digital downloads, as well as software for Yamaha Disklavier player-pianos.

For more information, visit his website at: http://www.isadar.com

2nd edition - fully revised 2020 (first published 2016). Available as a pdf from www.pianoraga.com either for individual use or with a studio licence for teachers (this includes a hard copy). Also perfect-bound or coil-bound from www.pianoraga.com (also https://www.amazon.com/Play-Indian-Sitar-R%C4%81gas-Piano/dp/B08DBVQZK8 and https://www.lulu.com/en/gb/shop/john-pitts/how-to-play-indian-sitar-r%C4%81gas-on-a-piano-coil-bound... ).

Indian rāgas (or raags) have an extraordinary musical heritage dating back several centuries (from the area that is now India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) - a truly unique musical genre of fascinating melodic beauty and rhythmic intricacy ? freely combining elaborate composed melodies with carefully rehearsed improvisation.This rich and intriguing music is traditionally performed on sitar ? or instruments such as the sarangi, sarod, esraj or voice ? and has previously been generally unavailable to pianists. But now the amazing world of Indian rāgas has been opened up in this sympathetic but thorough reinvention for piano solo (or duet or two pianos) by an award-winning British composer. This collection of 24 rāgas will be enjoyed by good amateur pianists through to virtuosic professionals. It is suitable for any pianist who enjoys discovering new music, or who has an interest in music from other cultures, or who knows the pleasure of jazz noodling and wants to explore a rewarding and fresh (but centuries-old) form of improvisation.

This book contains:
?Sheet music for piano solo: a set of 24 rāgas, newly composed within a traditional rāga genre, one for each hour of night and day, sunset to sunset, encompassing a wide array of moods, and based on over twenty fascinating scales.
?Step by step instructions to play each of the pre-composed and improvised sections of Indian rāgas, written for pianists who are used to playing European classical music and jazz. This includes how to develop the melodic material in the improvised ālāp (with optional joṛ and jhālā sections), and the part composed part improvised slow, medium and fast gat sections, with optional jhālā to finish.
?Instructions to play any of these rāgas in a duet or at two pianos.
?Hundreds of musical examples.
?Accompanying audio & video examples can be accessed for free at pianoraga.com

The book has been fully revised in 2020, with improved explanations and definitions, spellings conformed to academic usage, corrected inclusion of the improvised joṛ section, inclusion of mohrā phrases in the ālāp, and a transcription of the intricate free-pulse rhythms in the first example ālāp video. .

Composed by Natalie Rebecca Lovejoy. 21st Century, Neo-Classical, Jazz, Post-Romantic. Score, Sheet Music Single. 14 pages. Published by 193rd Street Music Publishing.

A rhapsodic piano solo that takes the listener through a musical interpretation of a rainstorm.

#piano #pianist #pianomusic #newmusic #newpianomusic #womencomposers

Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 - Beethoven, commonly known as Sonata Path�tique, was written in 1798 when the composer was 27 years old, and was published in 1799. It has remained one of his most celebrated compositions. Although commonly thought to be one of the few works to be named by the composer himself, it was actually named Grande sonate path�tique (to Beethoven's liking) by the publisher, who was impressed by the sonata's tragic sonorities. Prominent musicologists debate whether or not the Path�tique may have been inspired by Mozart's piano sonata K. 457, since both compositions are in C minor and have three very similar movements. The second movement, "Adagio cantabile", especially, makes use of a theme remarkably similar to that of the spacious second movement of Mozart's sonata. However, Beethoven's sonata uses a unique motif line throughout, a major difference from Haydn or Mozart?s creation. This is the original Beethoven arrangement of this sonata.

Other similar arrangements and selections from DIAMOND S MUSIC available at:https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/publishers/diamond-s-music/6940

The American Spiritual, Wade in the Water, arranged here for jazz piano. A slow, pensive setting with a gentle Latin groove, this setting is suitable for worship, or as a recital selection for an advanced player with a good sense of jazz style.
Please check for more piano music, sacred and secular choral and vocal selections, and arrangements for instrumental ensemble,s at pftmusic.com.

Contains:
"Throwing The Dice"
- taken from the Isadar solo piano collections, "Active Imagination / Reconstructed" (also available on SMP)

Sounds like: Liz Story's ("Things With Wings"), Philip Aaberg, George Winston, early Windham Hill solo piano artists

Transcribed by: David Shenton ( https://www.shentonmusic.com/ ) verbatim to the sound recording

Note: A slightly different version of this composition is also heard on the Isadar album, "Reconstructed" (Produced by Will Ackerman)

Album & Songbook Review by: Kathy Parsons

I love this CD! It constantly amazes me how many outstanding composer/pianists there are out there - especially in relation to the few who are highly (commercially) successful within this broad genre. I would say that Active Imagination definitely belongs near the top of the heap. Isadar?s style is original, and his pianism is excellent. He lists his inspirations as Liz Story, Keith Jarrett, and Bill Evans, and I can hear traces of all three in his playing, but find his composing and playing styles to be uniquely his own.

The first three tracks are lively and upbeat (?Active Imagination?, ?Throwing the Dice?, and ?Where the Wild Things Are?) with an easy, jazzy, improvised feel. The meter changes are fascinating, and the bluesy beat on ?Wild Things? is infectious.

From there, the mood seems to gradually darken and become more introspective. ?Waiting? is a beautiful, flowing mood piece full of questions and a lovely melody line. Isadar?s cover of Liz Story?s ?Wedding Rain? is wonderful - this is a piece I often work on with my advanced students, and everything about Isadar?s interpretation of the piece seems right without being a carbon-copy of Liz?s recording.

?Feu Follet (the ?spook? light?)? has a nice, easy flow with a strong sense of mystery; it also has an unusual rhythm that lightens the mood and adds a bounce. ?Uncertainty? is cooler and more aloof, but gorgeous in its flowing introspection - that it ends with a major chord, feels like the soul-searching has had positive results. ?Love Chaconne? is the closing track, and is the longest and most abstract piece on the CD. The left hand plays a repeated pattern while the right hand goes off in several different directions (one of the primary characteristics of a ?chaconne?). Beautiful in its simplicity, this is the only track that seems to contain an element of pain and sorrow, but never dissolves into melodrama.

Active Imagination is excellent from start to finish and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes solo piano with substance and complexity, but is still accessible, melodic, and rhythmic. Bravo amundo!

Active Imagination Sheet Music Collection is the companion songbook to Isadar?s 1999 CD release, Active Imagination. The CD was one of my favorites for the year when I reviewed it for the print version of ?Wind and Wire? magazine, so I was really looking forward to the sheet music! Transcribed note-for-note by David Shenton of ShentonMusic.com (I proofed about half of the book, so I can attest to how accurate it is!), it is up to you to make the music sound as close to the CD as you want or to interpret the music and make your own statements with it.

One thing that really stands out about this collection is how much FUN it is to play. The rhythms are interesting and catchy, and the mood in several of the songs is playful and upbeat. This is especially true with the title song, ?Throwing the Dice,? ?Where the Wild Things Are,? and ?Feu Follet (the ?spook? light).? ?Waiting,? ?Love Chaconne,? and ?Uncertainty? are slower, more introspective, and a bit moody, making this a sheet music collection that contains a variety of moods and styles. The only piece missing from the book is Liz Story?s ?Wedding Rain,? but the sheet music for that song is available in some of Ms. Story?s own collections.

Early-advanced players should have no trouble with this music. The timing on some of the songs is a little bit tricky, but if you count it as you are learning it, it will fall into place.

If you haven?t heard the CD, check it out, too! This book is available here from SMP, isadar.com and amazon.com. Highly recommended!

Isadar is an artist on both Enlightened Piano Radio & Whisperings Solo Piano Radio, the latter featuring some of today's biggest names in solo piano music, including Ludovico Einaudi, David Nevue, Brian Crain, Kevin Kern, Robin Spielberg, Michele McLaughlin, Philip Wesley and over 300 more...

Also available as sheet music in physical songbooks, digital downloads, as well as software for Yamaha Disklavier player-pianos.

For more information, visit his website at: http://www.isadar.com

"Shallow" is a song performed by American singer and actor Lady Gaga and American actor and filmmaker Bradley Cooper. It was released through Interscope Records on September 27, 2018 as the lead single from the soundtrack of the 2018 musical drama film, A Star Is Born. "Shallow" was written by Lady Gaga with Andrew Wyatt, Anthony Rossomando and Mark Ronson, and produced by Lady Gaga with Benjamin Rice. The song topped the record charts in more than a dozen countries, and reached the top ten elsewhere. It received numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, the BAFTA Award for Best Film Musicand the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song.

This composition was born in order to be used as obligatory piece in a piano competition.As such, it has to have very specific characteristics: not to be too long, to presenta minimum degree of technical and aesthetic difficulty, but also achieving thatdelicate sweet spot in which the technical difficulty is musically justified; i.e.,that no pianist feels that they are wasting their time while studying it (oreven worse: that they have the impression of being studying an exercise).

The piano competition involved was the Segundo concurso nacional de piano 'festival de pianistas', basedin the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina.

In the adjective "tangabile" (a neologism that resembles "cantabile")is a hidden allusion to Astor Piazzolla's pieces Allegro tangabile or Moderatotangabile. Of course, tangabile implies "related to tango"

This is a video of the presentation of Daniel �lvarez Veizaga during that competition. The event tookplace at the Centro Cultural Victoria Ocampo ?Villa Victoria?, Mar del Plata,Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Piano Kawaii RX5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfClIaFgBBI

This modern work for piano solo is made up of 8 short movements that express varying degrees of emotions and styles, from wistful to playful, and from minimalist to 12-tone, providing the advanced pianist bold and compelling 21st century concert repertoire. 28 pages. Performance time: approx.15:00. Anthony Giamanco is a member of ASCAP. His many piano, organ,choir, and chamber works are in the catalogs of numerous publishers includingGIA, Shawnee Press, Alfred, Augsburg Fortress, Lorenz, and others. His piecesalso can be purchased through sheetmusicplus.com and JW Pepper. Anthony's musiccan be heard on his website, anthonygiamanco.com, and on YouTube. Contact info:tony@shalomlife.org.