All piano music except Sonatas, Dances, and a few unfinished pieces. Contains Wanderer, Impromptus, Moments Musicals, Variations, Scherzi, etc. Breitkopf & Härtel edition.
Schubert composed three types of music for solo piano: sonatas, waltzes and dances, and short piano pieces. This budget-priced book by Dover includes scores for the third category of pieces. Thus it includes some of Schubert's best-known works for keyboard. The volume includes the Wanderer Fantasy, the four Impromptus of Opus 90, the four Impromptus of Opus 142, and the six short Moments Musicaux. Broadly speaking, in these short pieces, Schubert moved closer towards the romantic style in music rather than attempting to pour his lyrical gifts into classical forms.
The Wanderer Fantasy is a four-movement virtuoso piano piece based upon the theme of Schubert's song "The Wanderer." It is written in a highly flamboyant style not at all typical of the composer. Schubert composed this great score immediately after he stopped his efforts on what became his "Unfinished" Symphony. The story is that when Schubert tried to demonstrate this work for his friends at the piano, he quickly threw up his hands and exclaimed: "The Devil with it! I can't play it!" The Wanderer Fantasy remains one of the most difficult works in the solo piano repertoire. For all but the best of pianists, this is a score to be studied or used in following professional performances rather than to be attempted.
The two sets of Impromptus are among the great lyrical and meditative music that Schubert composed near the end of his life. They were of great influence on subsequent romantic composers, while for many years Schubert's sonatas remained virtually unplayed. Many of the Impromptus may be played with careful effort by dedicated amateur pianists. The six short Moments Musicaux are also within the range of careful study by amateurs.
The book is inexpensive, compact, well-bound, easy to read, and sits comfortably on the rack of most pianos. It is not an urtext edition, but it should prove to be accurate for all users up to the professional level. The measures are unnumbered and suggested fingerings or pedalings are not provided. I have used this book for many years in attempting to play the Impromptus, Moments Musicaux, and some of the other pieces and in listening to live and recorded performances of Schubert. For amateur pianists or lovers of Schubert's piano music, this book is an excellent choice. The volume offers the opportunity to live for many years with this great music.
Robin Friedman
Gorgeous edition, easy to read and fun to play Well, Dover editions are always good, but the Schubert Short Piano Pieces book is especially fine. If you love to play the piano, you will love this fine compilation of all the Schubert impromptus, Moments Musicaux, etc.
The staves are well-spaced and the engraving is good, making the music easy to read. Page turns are pretty intelligent -- you rarely have to turn while playing. There's plenty of space between the lines for your notes, teacher's ideas, etc.
I am delighted with this usable, well-produced edition. Hope other amateur pianists will enjoy this book as much as I do.
Schubert at his most intimate This is an excellent book for those pianists who want to discover the marvelous Schubert's work. Photographically reprinted from the authoritative Breitkopf & Härtel edition, this Dover book contains almost every piece for piano solo Schubert wrote(except piano sonatas, dances and other unfinished works). The pages are finely printed, the space between staves is wide to allow notations and the size of the notes makes easy to read it at the piano. The technical skills required for playing this pieces is variable; from the magnificent "Wanderer" fantasy to the most intimate Impromptus. Certainly, this is a book that classical pianists, students or classical-music-lovers would enjoy.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tailipoe
Trevor
