Customer Reviews

Schroeder's Greatest Hits

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A great choice for young students of the piano! I'm a piano teacher, and used this CD as a motivational prize in a studio challenge. I ended up buying more than I had anticipated because so many students were interested in owning and listening to this CD! Good student repertoire represented, nice performances.

I originally bought this as studying music for history class... It's really a great CD. For those who love piano music, but don't know where to start listening, I highly recommend this one.

After a brief intro on a toy piano to remind you of the theme of the CD, it immediately launches into some absolutely beautiful piano playing.

5 stars.

I do not listen to very much classical music, but...I listen to this disc quite often. My wife grew up in front of a piano, and she has played many of these selections, and she is quite familiar with almost everything presented here. This is a CD that we both, {coming from two completly different musicial worlds} can both agree upon. This CD is just plain wonderful and it belongs in any music collection.

With: "Fur Elise" leading the way through to: "Prelude-Well Tempered Clavier, Book 1, No. 1" this is piano as it was meant to be presented. This is the music that Schroeder loves to play. One listen to this, and it is easy to see why. When Schroeder plays these classic selections on his little toy piano {with Lucy right there bugging him} he seems to drift off to another place. After hearing this wonderful music I now I understand why this is so, like any other music that is as great as this, you will be transported.

This is just a sample of some of the greatest music of the last 600 years. With: Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Schubert, Scarlatti, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Tchaikovsky & Chopin. Every musicial piece has that spark and clarity of what perked our ears to these wonderful selections, all those years ago when we heard this music as background to a Bugs Bunny Cartoon on a Saturday morning {bowl of cereal, is optional.}

This collection is generous {34 tracks, 68.5 minutes} and as a bonus, the final selection is: "Linus & Lucy" by Vince Guaraldi, that was featured in the TV Special: "A Charlie Brown Christmas" in the early 1960's. Again, I am very limited in my knowledge of the classics, but this is one of the most enjoyable CD's of piano works that I have ever come across. I have sampled this music on small children, and it has always had a positive effect on them as well. From 3 to 83, this CD has something for everyone...Timeless music played to perfection.
FIVE STARS !!!

Very enjoyable CD. Simple and straight forward, a solo piano and selections from a long list of remarkable composers, followed up with the Peanuts tune Linus and Lucy with a jazz trio(piano, bass and drums) If this dosen't motivate a piano player nothing will. 5 stars!

The album, Schroeder's Greatest Hits is a compilation of pure classical performance with a little bit of fun mixed in it and is showcased by the flawless execution on technique by the 'real' performers. I would whole heartedly recommend this disk for anyone who has loved Peanuts cartoon OR an aspiring pianist.

I did not know what to expect when I ordered this cd. I ordered it primarily for the Lucy & Linus song but was pleasantly surprised with all the other selections of piano music. It is a cd of piano music that one would believe Schroeder would play. Classics from of course Beethovan and many other familiar favorites. I listen to this cd in the car and it is one of my favorite cd's.

This CD is so wonderful. It's great to relax too, hum too, think, work, etc. I would recommend this CD to anyone and everyone!!!

If you are getting interested in either the piano or classical music I highly recommend this album. It has all the well known classical pieces that everyone knows and much more. The Three B's (Brahms, Bach, and Beethoven)are all strongly represented. Plus much more...

I was having a discussion with someone recently who, like me, did NOT grow up listening to classical music (or in a musical home, period). When he asked me how I "got into" classical, I had to pause to think. It was a somewhat gradual process, I admit--almost trial and error. But one thing that really helped me was listening to solo piano pieces. Orchestral pieces tended to wash over me at first, but I could always HEAR what a pianist was playing--and even if I couldn't describe it technically, and it helped me to "develop an ear" for classical music in general.

A collection such as SCHROEDER'S GREATEST HITS, may seem a little gimmicky to a genre specialist, or maybe a lot gimmicky. But while some have lauded it as a good collection for young piano STUDENTS, I'd have to stress its value for neophyte LISTENERS. Gene Gaudette, in his liner notes, observes that many of the selections included by "Schroeder" were "written with the beginner in mind," and that phrase could be stretched to include the beginning LISTENER as well as the beginning player.

Indeed the pieces from Schumann's and Tchaikovsky's "Albums]for the Young," are brief, charming sketches that would probably never be programmed as stand-alone pieces and might be considered "etudes" for advanced amateurs. In and of themselves, they are not overly demanding, but they're certainly "serious" enough, and included in a set of six or seven such bagatelles, they make for an engaging listening experience.

One bit of programming I noticed on maybe my second listen (and which may not have even been all that concsious) was the Beethoven-Mozart-Bach-Mozart-Beethoven sequencing that opens the record. I found it an interesting musical history lesson, going from "newer" to "older" and back again. Yes, after Beethoven and Mozart, Bach does sound much more "baroque" and significantly less "modern" to our contemporary ears. Even if you're given to playing CDs on random select, I'd recommend listening to the first seven tracks straight through and see for yourself if you don't start hearing the difference between the more "modern" Beethoven and the more rule-governed baroque style J.S. Bach.

There's a lot to be learned from a cartoon prodigy like Schroeder. And it all ends on a light note with Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy," which you almost have to expect...and that works too. Charmed, I'm sure.

The cassette tape has 7 MORE selections than what Amazon shows:

Tchaikovsky: Children's Album: 24 Easy Pieces, for piano, Op. 39: Mazurka
Tchaikovsky: Children's Album: 24 Easy Pieces, for piano, Op. 39: Waltz
Tchaikovsky: Children's Album: 24 Easy Pieces, for piano, Op. 39: Neopolitan Dance
Chopin: "Two-Four Waltz" (A-flat, Op.42)
Chopin: "Minute Waltz" (D-flat, Op 64 No.1)
Bach: Prelude in C (Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 No.1)
Guaraldi: "Linus and Lucy"

Amazon seems confused between the CD and the Cassette. This listing was copied right from the cassette's box; the cassette has 36 selections, not 29.