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 contains all eight movements of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky?s ever-popular ?Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a.? While maintaining characteristics of the original work, subtle variations add a contemporary interpretation creating simplified, yet festive piano solos. This collection is the perfect addition to the classical holiday repertoire for the intermediate pianist.


These arrangements were created to make challenging classical music more accessible for the intermediate player or easier to sight-read by more advanced players. Another feature of these arrangements is they are consistent at the 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 and timings and some melodies were modified to create a smoother flow between phrases.

Each of the 8 arrangements is also available separately with accompanying preview pages and audio samples.

Titles in this collection include:
Miniature Overture
March
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
Russian Dance (Trepak)
Arabian Dance
Chinese Dance
Dance of the Reed Flutes
Waltz of the Flowers

ISBN 9781513459844. 8.75x11.75 inches.

This book presents 42 English folk songs arranged for the intermediate classic guitarist in standard notation with phrase and dynamic markings plus light fingering. The collection includes popular melodies like Sprig of Thyme, Seventeen Come Sunday, and Blow the Wind Southerly, but also lesser known but no less beautiful tunes like Cupid the Pretty Ploughboy, Dabbling in the Dew and Saucy Sailor. All the arrangements present the basic tune faithfully and simply before offering more elaborate and sophisticated variations suitable for concert performance. Without compromising their sophistication, these polyphonic arrangements are elegant and idiomatic to the guitar, all but devoid of excessive physical demands; even barre chords are kept to a minimum so the player can relax and focus on tone and interpretation. The primary objective of this collection is to draw attention to these deserving melodies, some of which are now rarely heard. Longtime fans of the genre will recognize a few songs once performed by folk-rock groups like Steeleye Span and The Fairport Convention, here presented anew for the solo classic guitar. Its an excellent collection - good to play for pleasure, good for learning and consolidating rhythm, good for sight-reading. Just marvelous. It should meet a lot of needs. Gilbert Biberian These are very accessible arrangements of 42 English folk tunes, some of which are familiar and many others which deserve to be better known. They are all tuneful and have interesting harmonies and rhythms in arrangements which will be well within the reach of intermediate guitarists. These fine settings would be useful pieces for a teacher looking for supplementary material and also for the performer looking for unhackneyed repertoire. They are thoughtfully presented with good fingering and phrasing, with idiomatic guitar writing and interesting harmonies. Congratulations to Peter Worley for presenting this compendium of gems from a lesser known tradition. Gerald Garcia.

The volume 'Klassik fur Kinder' provides young flute players with a selection of 26 easy works for lessons and concerts. The selected pieces range from the Baroque era via the Classical period to the Romantic era. Apart from original pieces, the editors have deliberately included easy arrangements of well-known masterpieces as well in order to facilitate access to the classical concert literature.
The pitch range found in the pieces (not higher than E''') can be easily mastered by pupils from the second year of tuition. The collection is particularly suitable to work on various aspects of interpretation and musical performance.
The enclosed CD contains all pieces as a complete version (for listening) and as pure piano accompaniment (for playing along).
The 'Klassik fur Kinder' series is also available for violin, clarinet, piano, guitar, and most recently for violoncello as well.

ISBN 9781513455099. 8.75 x 11.75 inches.

LES REFLETS DE L'OBSCURITE is an original collection of four pieces for solo guitar, ranging from intermediate to advanced skill and of a total duration of approximately fifteen minutes. Secrets dune ombre, Ecume orange, Parfums declipse and Sables stellaires tell the story of a journey in a suspended and colorful universe, projecting the listener into a soundscape of many horizons. The combination of traditional music writing and an impressionistic language allows the musician expressive freedom, while guiding them in the interpretation of their playing. This collection was performed and recorded by Johan Smith, winner of the renowned GFA guitar contest (37th Guitar Foundation of America, Rose Augustine Grand Prize 2019). LES REFLETS DE LOBSCURITE est un recueil original de quatre pieces pour guitare seule, de niveau intermediaire a avance et dune duree totale denviron quinze minutes. Secrets dune ombre, Ecume orange, Parfums declipse et Sables stellaires racontent ainsi une progression dans un univers suspendu et colore, vous projetant dans un paysage sonore aux horizons multiples. Lecriture traditionnelle liee a un langage impressionniste permet une liberte expressive au musicien, tout en le guidant dans linterpretation de son jeu. Ce recueil est interprete et enregistre par Johan Smith, laureat du celebre concours de guitare GFA (37th Guitar Foundation of America, Rose Augustine Grand Prize 2019).

ISBN 9781609744434. A collection of chansons printed in various collections between 1529 and 1543 by Pierre Attaingnant, the inventor of single-impression printing. The arrangement of chansons for lute or keyboard was an important source of instrumental music in the sixteenth century. The chansons in the present anthology, the fruits of a particularly rich period in French music, are modern arrangements for guitar or lute made in accordance with procedures found in French prints of the time. The musical styles range from the serious, imitative Franco-Flemish chanson of northern composers to the charming, light-hearted, and often ribald chansons that furnished musical entertainment in early sixteenth-century Paris. Although the arrangements are instrumental, text translations are furnished to aid in interpretation of the music and to amuse the modern reader as they amused the listener in the 1530s and 1540s. Standard notation only.