Customer Reviews

The Piano Bench of Classical Music: Piano Solo (Piano Collections)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Good Collection to have in your library. The piano pieces are the originals with fingerings, not simplified arrangements. The orchestral transcriptions are okay, although I have seen better from Schirmer, e.g. "Dance of the Reed Flutes". Still, they are not over-simplified arrangements, as I found to be the case in "The Definitive Classical Collection", which I returned. Over all a good addition to your musical library, especially when put together with Amy Appleby's "Piano Classics". Difficulty level is advanced-intermediate to advanced.

This 400 page book edited by Amy Appleby includes the best of every book I've ever studied from. It contains over 125 great masterpieces. There are 24 Renaissance and Baroque (e.g. Purcell, Scarlatti, Bach and Handel), 21 classical (e.g. Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart) , 28 Romantic (e.g. Chopin, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky), 16 Impressionist and Modern Composers (e.g. Debussy, Dvorak, and Rimsky-Korsakov), 10 Light Classics (e.g.Gounod, Strauss and Waldteufel), 10 opera themes (e.g. Bizet's 'Carmen,' Mozart's 'Marriage of Figaro' and Sullivan's 'H.M.S. Pinafore'), 10 scenes from the ballet (e.g. Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet and the Nutcracker) and 7 duets by Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Diabelli, Mendelssohn, Schubert and Tchaikovsky. The book is beautiful bound with a rugged plastic binding that stays open on the piano.The pages are bright with legible notes. I would recommend this book for the serious student who is playing four years or more. This would make an excellent holiday or special occasion gift for piano enthusiasts. It is an excellent value. You may want to throw away all of your old piano books and just keep this one with all of your favorites.

I was shocked when this book arrived, it's so thick packed with 400 pages, thank goodness for the plastic coil binding. This book includes a huge selection of songs, many of the well-known pieces that I already had in several other books, but also a wide variety of new songs that I haven't heard/played before. The level is intermediate to advanced-intermediate. I'm picking up piano again after a very LONG hiatus and I'm absolutely thrilled to have found this gem. If I had to give up all of my books and keep just one, THIS WOULD BE IT! And I would still have enough to play for a very long time. I highly recommend this book.

This is a fantastic collection. It ranges in difficulty from intermediate (the full, unabridged version of Fur Elise), to quite advanced material. It is sure to keep me playing and improving for a long time to come. Wonderful material, great variety, great range of difficulty, and great price. This is 100% recommended.

When I bought my abbreviated keyboard in April, 2005, I did not realize I would need ALL the keys. However, this collection of classical pieces has caused me to start saving so that I may indeed purchase a full-sized keyboard. Currently I feel rather comfortable with Beethovan's beautiful "Fur Elise" and would like to master Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" from "The Messiah" by Christmas (as a gift for my husband). For those who want to maintain their skill level, for those who want a challenge, and for those who want to experience some beautiful music "up close and personal," I highly recommend this collection.

Thick book, all the classical songs you would hope to get. Spiral binding, pages are easy to turn and the book stay opened on the desired pages. Not for beginners. 4+ years piano playing experience a plus. Have lots of fun playing.

I've been playing predominantly jazz and popular music for years, but decided to get back to playing classical again. This Collection has been great for that it's got a wide variety of music from various classical periods, various styles. The print is easy to read, the markings in this edition work well, although I do find alternate fingerings work better than some of the suggested fingerings in the collection.

The book is great for the beginner/intermediate player. Make sure you can play all time signatures well (especially with 8bpm). I am looking for sister books to this one :)

I am really pleased with this book. It has virtually every 'well known' piano classic, and more, all in one book. Great for the amateur pianist who loves classical music.

If you can only purchase one book of classical piano music to enjoy, this would be an excellent choice. We purchased this book as a gift for a family member. She loves the book and is enjoying the challenges of learning each piece in the collection. She is so glad that the editors of the book have chosen these items for the book as she feels the selections are those she would have loved to purchase, although buying each piece one at a time might have been difficult both for cost and availability. The title - The Piano Bench - is descriptive of the actual case of having a book that contains a full file of music for the piano such as you might want to keep in the piano bench to pull out and play for enjoyment and for study.