All music evokes memories and classical pieces are no exception. Many piano students have wondered what prompted Edward MacDowell to write "To a Wild Rose." Listening to "The Swan" from Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens, so tender, helps us channel our inner ballet dancer. "Evening Prayer" from Engelbert Humperdinck's opera Hansel and Gretel recalls the story of two scared children lost in a forest. And it's no surprise that the melody of Alexander Borodin's "Polovetsian Dance No. 1" was a perfect fit for the popular song "Stranger in Paradise" from the Broadway musical Kismet.

About the arranger: Brenda Dillon is best known for her contributions to the Recreational Music Making movement. She served on the RMM Committee that designed the RMM Track for MTNA's Pedagogy Saturday. She also presented group piano and RMM sessions throughout the U.S. In addition to serving as a teacher trainer, she has written extensive articles on both group piano and RMM teaching. She has publications with Hal Leonard and Alfred Music listed on her website (www.brendadillon.com).

This collection of intermediate piano solos includes 20 arrangements of some of the most romantic songs from ages past. These beautiful, lyrical songs are perfect for weddings, easy listening repertoire, personal enjoyment, and even a few for church worship services.

These arrangements were created to make challenging classical music more accessible for the intermediate player or easier to sight-read by more advanced players (comes in handy when asked to perform on short notice). Another feature of these arrangements is they are consistent at the intermediate to advanced-intermediate skill level throughout each piece. Many have been simplified and only include excerpts from the longer original movements. Other simplified characteristics include easier key signatures, timings, and fingerings. Complimentary interludes and introductions were added when appropriate and melodies modified to create a more contemporary sound.

Each of the 20 arrangements is also available separately with accompanying preview pages and audio samples. The audio sample plays ?Starlight Serenade? by Alexander Ilyinsky.

Titles in this collection include:
Aura Lea ~ by George Poulton
Butterfly Serenade ~ Impromptu (Op. 90, No. 3) by Franz Schubert
Cherish the Moments ~ Rondo from Path�tique by Ludwig van Beethoven
Dance with Me ~ Valse Lente from ?Coppelia? by Leo Delibes
Dream with Me ~ Andante from Piano Concerto No. 21 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Evening Breezes ~ Intermezzo from Carmen Suite No. 1 by Georges Bizet
A Journey of Love ~ Sicilienne by Gabriel Faur�
The Joys of Love ~ Plaisir d?Amour by Jean-Paul Martini
Jupiter from ?The Planets? ~ by GustavHolst
Love?s Greeting ~ Salut d?Amour by Edward Elgar
Melody of Love ~ by Hans Engelmann
Moonlight Sonata ~ Adagio from Sonata Op. 27, No. 2 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Nightingale Serenade ~ Serenata by Enrico Toselli
O Lord Most Holy ~ Panis Angelicus by Cesar Auguste Franck
Orange Blossoms in Spring ~ Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni
A Romanian Love Song ~ Rum�nisches Liebesleben by Iosif Ivanovici
Spring ~ Allegretto from Songs without Words by Felix Mendelssohn

Starlight Serenade ~ Berceuse Op. 13, No. 7 by Alexander Ilyinsky
Waves of the Danube ~ Donauwellen by Iosif Ivanovici
Yearning for Love ~ Adagio from Path�tique by Ludwig van Beethoven

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

Piano Postcards - an album of inspirational postcard scenes with a beautifully illustrated book of original sheet music.

I?ve been fortunate to experience so many breathtaking places throughout my life and they have certainly proved a strong influence on my piano compositions. My collection of ?postcards? are musical interpretations of a selection of these stunning scenes, interspersed with my own memories of being there. I hope that you?ll also be able to picture yourself in these very special places as you immerse yourself in the music.

Piano Postcards is available now on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and CD. I do hope you enjoy listening to it!

If you play the piano, the piano sheet music has been transcribed by the same team who edit the piano pieces for ABRSM publishing, so it looks stunning. It contains original artwork created especially by Mille Moth. The sheet music is also available in beautifully printed books from www.adrianlordpiano.com

This download includes all ten pieces: 1. Oak Meadow, 2. Bon Voyage, 3. Crimson Lake, 4. Bluebell Dale, 5. Dark Sky, 6. On The Beach, 7. Castle Crag, 8. Teatro, 9. Seann Taigh, 10. Wish You Were Here.

Lullaby. Composed by Gabriele Filippi. For Piano Solo, Contemporary Music.

This original composition, here edited by the composer with detailed expressive notations to accompany the pianist in the interpretations imagined, desired, and rendered by Filippi, comes as a piece inspired by his grandfather.

A very important presence for Filippi, who in his younger age helped to form him, to make him grow, and with his granite presence, to make him the man he is today until his last days of life.

A delicate lullaby, which does not fail to arouse the ardor of sentiment towards a person who is no longer among us, Lullaby by Gabriele Filippi offers a broad and diversified relatability, in which every listener and every performer can find ample capable imaginative spaces to arouse memories, feelings, reflections.

For a momentary parenthesis, in which to get lost and find yourself again, at each listening, with each performance.

Arranged by David Nevue. Sheet Music Single. 4 pages. Published by David Nevue.
Key of Gm. Early Intermediate Skill Level.

This sheet music was transcribed note by note from the recording that appears on David Nevue's album Sweet Dreams & Starlight. You can find the song for reference on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon.com, YouTube... wherever you enjoy listening to music.

Nevue's solo piano arrangements generously span the "easy" to "intermediate" levels, with just a few approaching "early advanced." They are the perfect choice for pianists just starting out, giving them something to reach for that isn't intimidating. Nevue's scores are also well-suited for pianists who want to play beautiful, flowing music that's quick to learn and easy to memorize.

Find out more about David Nevue at his web site, DavidNevue.com

This arrangement of Greensleeves was also performed and released as a digital single by the famous Chinese pianist Lang Lang.

Sounds like: George Winston, Jim Brickman, Paul Cardall, David Lanz, Yiruma, Ludovico Einaudi, Brian Crain, Lang Lang