Sergei Rachmaninoff Piano Works

Sergei Rachmaninoff Piano Works, edited by the agency of Joseph Banowitz. Belwin-Mills Publishing/Warner Bro (15800 N W 48th Ave., Miami, FL 33014) 2003 68pp $1495 Advanced.

There are five turns for solo piano in the Warner Brothers Publication Performing Artist Series. Chopin, Debussy, Schubert, Schumann and Rachmaninoff each are showed in this series meant for the intermediate, late-intermediate and advanced learner Joseph Banowitz is the editor of this series and performs all the compositions upon five CDs included with the respective book

Sergei Rachmaninoff Piano Works is geared to the advanced pupil Rachmaninoff was a composer, pianist and conductor, and his constant traveling and concertizing may be the reason his material substance of works only reached Op 45 However, his piano works are among his finest compositions. The selections in this work are wonderful introductory compositions. There are several pieces from the real accessible Op. 10 and several selections from his Morceau de Fantasy, Op 3 Unfortunately, along with the delightful Flight of the Bumblebee, the editor als0 includes the repeatedly mutilated Prelude in C-sharp Minor, which Rachmaninoff grew to hate since his audiences would not give leave to him leave me stage until they had heard him play it.

Rachmaninoff was a young stripling of 13 when Franz Liszt died, and he carried upon where Liszt left off. Although he was composing at the same time as Bartok, Debussy, Ravel and Iyes, he remained authentic to the romantic tradition and expanded it in his use of lengthy melodic lines, complex tonalities and more pianistic and color results That he was a pianist of the highest caliber is evident in all he compos Best of all his works are his piano concerti. Because he wrote equally as well for the orchestra, the piano orchestral works are compositions all serious musicians should explore. The beauty of this convolution is that it is a awesome way to introduce students to this important composer and prepare them for his larger works. The inclusion of the CD is an equally astonishing tool to aid the teacher as well as the scholar Reviewed by Dorothea Cromley, Billings, Montana.

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