Customer Reviews

Sonatina Album: Piano Solo (Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sonatina album is great for teaching if you are a piano teacher. Most of the works are about intermediate level. Ideal for teaching students that finished grade 4 to help reinforce student's skills. This edition is clearly printed and carefully fingered.

Schirmer's Sonatina Album is one of the best compilations of smaller works from the Classical Era. The book can be divided into thirds: easy sonatinas by Friederich Kuhlau (1786-1832) and Muzio Clementi (1752-1832); four easy sonatas by Haydn (Hob 35), Mozart (K 545) and Beethoven (Op. 49, No. 1 & 2); short pieces and excepts from symphonic works.

I studied this book as a child and now use it in my private piano studio for what I consider "4th-yr students." The upside is that it inexpensively gives them a great foundation of the classical style, the pieces are not difficult to learn, they begin to see the use of counterpoint and to understand the sonata form. The downside is the same with all of the older Schirmer texts in that the editor took liberties in regards to tempos, dynamic markings, articulations and even notes. Such was the trend over a hundred years ago and, fortunately, is not the case with today's urtext editions. Despite this, I still find it an economical resource for my students and of minor signifigance at this level. Any glaring errors (which are few), I will fix after consulting my urtext editions.

Yes, there are other collections out there that are just as good, if not better; however, I've found that this edition provides an excellent grounding in the classical style at an inexpensive price.

I am not giving this book one star because of the quality of the selection but rather the quality of the printing. I have been reading from Schirmer's editions for over 40 years and the quality of their printing has obviously taken a tumble. As with a Kalmus edition of Mozart Sonatas I recently purchased on Amazon, 7 lines of music are crammed onto a page where 5 or 6 used to be the norm. The notes are further compressed side to side (more notes per line). The printing is also faded, as if they were printed on a poor copy machine. I found this book very difficult and unpleasant to read, unlike the many Schirmer editions of classical piano music I own and use regularly. I am now wary of purchasing music online, despite the difficulty in buying good editions locally. Even in New York City, the great Patelson's music store has closed. On my next trip I will spend time at the Julliard School's music store, which still carries excellent editions of the classics.

Though I've said "excellent book for students", the quality of the pieces is nice for players of any experience who enjoy sonatinas that aren't overly complex. I used this as a kid and always had several favorites I'd play every now and then as an adult. There is another version of this book that's identical, except that it has about two thirds of the pieces as best as I can remember. I lost the smaller version I had as a kid a dozen years ago and got this as a replacement. The difference in price between the two versions available at that time was so small it would've been stupid not to get this version. I'm glad I did as the extra selections in this version are nice pieces, though I haven't had much chance to really learn them yet, but the choices that were made to include these pieces was a good call. I have no problem with the fingerings in this book, as with Schirmer books in general. The other good feature is that the selections aren't heavily weighted towards just a few composers; it's a reasonably good spread. Probably no one will like every single piece, but most people will like most of the pieces.

The Sonatina album is a great album containing sonatinas, rondos and a few other pieces. For the intermediate player, you will be challenged by many of the pieces. The Clementi sonatinas contained in this album are wonderful as well as the classic Prelude by Bach.

All the sonitanas in this book are provided with adequate fingering.The finest composers are represented in each piece.Book is easy to open and the book stays open during the time needed for practice.

I was looking for a book of Clementi Sonatinas for warmups and practice. This book is an extensive list of sonatinas, not just Clementi's. I'm pleased with the content, as well as the clean printing and sturdy binding. I would purchase this book again.

It's a fine book. Actually I ordered it to replace the one a lost years ago.