Customer Reviews

The Big Book of Classical Music

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Went to the local library in search of some Classical wedding/sacred music and checked out this book. It has both Mendelssohn's Wedding March and Wagner's Bridal Chorus as well as Pachebel's Canon in D. Like these pieces, there are a lot of arrangements of symphonic favorites - think a "Greatest Hits" Classical collection - but the quality is high. Most are moderate/advanced diffuculty- about the level of Thompson's grade 5 book, or Mozart's Sonata in C (I am a piano teacher). The original pieces for piano tend to be a little harder. The Baroque pieces (Bach, Handel, Haydn) are a bit easier.

There is also the theme from "Masterpiece Theatre" (RONDEAU by Jean-Joseph Mouret)

My biggist need for piano music bought online is to know exactly how difficult the music is. I play a lot of classical...this book has mostly pieces which have been transcribed from orchestral...such as adagio for strings. They are nice transcriptions, many not found elsewhere, and only of moderate difficulty (I actually prefer them to be a bit harder but it is by no means an easy or beginner book) so it is a good book for sight reading practice. There is out there the same book with easier versions of the music...I have forgotten the title. Nice collection.

I have had a wonderful time with this book since purchasing it a year ago. I play from it nearly every day and it got me excited about playing regularly again. It has a wonderful variety of music from popular (classical) composers, and there were many pieces I had heard before but didn't know the name or composer.

From the Bach's delicate "Prelude in C Major" to the Handel's majestic "Hallelujah Chorus", from the slow "Resurrection" by Mahler to the Hadyn's brisk "Gypsy Rondo", there is a style to match just about any mood or occasion.

I wish I had purchased this book years ago. I highly recommend it!

The Big Book of Classical Music is excellent. There are some easy to play versions as well as more difficult ones for a middle of the road pianist. Great selection of music.

I love this book because it has a sampling of many of the great composers. It contains music of a great variety of abilities as far as levels of playing ability are concerned. Certainly not for the beginning student, but nevertheless it's a wonderful compilation of great music. If you have a pretty good basic grasp of the piano and you're willing to work, you can probably find something in here to work on! And if you're an accomplished musician, you also can find something (many somethings!) in here to enjoy.

I bought this as a present for my brother for Christmas and one of the few reasons I picked this over the Piano Bench of Classical Music was because this one had Canon in D. When I browsed through the book, I was upset to learn that it was only an excerpt and not a whole piece. But I'm not about to give the book a bad review because of one song. On the plus side, there are a lot of other songs that I like, like Schubert's Serenade. I haven't played any of the songs yet so I'm not sure of the difficulty of the pieces. It'll have to wait until after Christmas.