Capturing The Christmas Spirit at the Piano!
Every December the world is overflooded with Christmas music in a multitude of forms. Traditional carols sung in churches, a steady flow of genres in the loudspeakers in department stores and a variety of instrumental arrangements of the well known repertoire is performed at concert halls everywhere. But what can pianists play besides traditional arrangements offered by every major music publisher?
Piano Street has gratefully received lovely contributions by noteworthy pianist/composers who have managed to take our beloved tunes a bit further in their own unique way by offering fine arrangements for pianists to practice and enjoy during the holidays.
If you play through any of the pieces/arrangements, let us know what you think by posting a comment below!
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Nikki Iles: The Christmas Song & Let it Snow!
British jazz composer, pianist, band leader and educator Nikki Iles has produced two books of Christmas music arrangements. Here we meet delicately crafted and harmonically intruiging pieces leaning on an authentic jazz piano tradition. A perfect collection for pianists looking for gestures and harmonies of that specific instrumental sound. Thank you Nikki!
The Christmas Song – Download free PDF >>
Let it Snow – Download free PDF >>
From “Jazz on a Winter’s Night” – book 1 & 2
Book 1: Read more & buy at amazon.com >>
Book 2: Read more & buy at amazon.com >>
Christopher Norton: Hark!
Mr. Christopher Norton, often referred to as Mr. “Micro Jazz”, is an internationally well known pianist personality, mainly working in modern genres and has produced a huge amount of original pedagogic material used by ABRSM for instance. Norton is a Master of genres and this jazzy piece is inspired by “Hark The Herald Angels Sing” and skillfully re-arranged. The difficulty in this extrovert piece are the irregular meters, plus the abruptly changing moods from phrase to phrase. Thank you Christopher!
From “Microjazz Christmas Collection”
Read more & buy at sheetmusicplus.com>>
Alison Mathews: Gabriel’s Message
Musica Ferrum Editions in London has published the book “Capturing the Spirit of Christmas” with arrangements by the British classically trained pianists Alison Mathews and Barbara Arens who compose works for pianists at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. The collection contains 12 traditional Carols from around the world, arranged in a lyrical and contemporary style, for the intermediate pianist. Enjoy the piece “Gabriel’s Message”. Thank you Alison!
From “Capturing the spirit of Christmas”
Read more & buy at musica-ferrum.com >>
Liszt: Weihnachtsbaum (Christmas Tree – 12 pieces)
The “Christmas Tree” belongs to Liszt’s late period, and was dedicated to his granddaughter Blandina von Bülow. It’s a highly diversified work, where moments of rather sugary sentimentality (The Shepherds at the Manger) stand side by side with martial pomp (March of the Three Holy Kings) and visionary passages with Ravel-like harmonies (Evening Bells).
The first four pieces in Weihnachtsbaum (Christmas Tree) present traditional Christmas carols in easy settings, which can also be performed on the organ. Nos. 5-8 are more demanding; they seem to depict a child’s impressions of Christmas (Liszt did dedicate the set to his first grandchild Daniela von Bülow – however, she was 21 at the time of publication.) The last group of four pieces consists of two quiet, nostalgic works, and two more ebullient national character pieces, all without any obvious Christmas connection. Liszt made both solo and four-hand versions of the complete cycle. Thank you Franz!
Franck: Christmas Carol from Anjou
This beautiful Christmas carol was written by Cesar Franck. Spice up your holiday concert with a seldom-heard melody! Piano Street’s collection of 14 of the most characteristic harmonium pieces from “L’Organiste” is based on the selection by W. Mohr for Edition Peters’ well known publication of short keyboard pieces by Franck. They are beautiful and delicate little works. Despite their small format, most of them are more tricky than they sound like and can effectively be used for teaching purposes due to their great challenges in legato technique. Thank you Cesar!
If you play through any of the pieces/arrangements, let us know what you think by posting a comment below!
Comments
Thanks this was a good read!
What a lovely musical christmas gift! All the pieces are relatively manageable for me as and advanced amaterur pianist to play withut hours of practice, except for some of the Liszt pieces of course.
Thank you piano street team and Merry Christmas to all of you!
Thanks for the special Franck Christmas piece!
Its a delight to find “new” repertoire by the great masters!
From the Yukon Canada-Thank You.Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year.
I liked Nikki Isles’ arrangement of The Christmas Song. I played through all the others, apart from the Liszt, which is quite a well-known, but sprawling collection – not so difficult as most of his piano works.
Thank you, Piano Street! Such a nice surprise. Happy holidays to all.
Thank you, PianoStreet for the Christmas gift! Wish you Happy Holidays!
Thanks very much for your interesting present. Happy New Year for all of you!
Thank you very much for this precious gift.
Thank you so much! Really looking forward to exploring these!
Merry Christmas and thank you for the wonderful music!
el mejor regalo de Navidad… GRACIAS!!!
¡Gracias, Piano Street! es un buen regalo para nosotros—que iDios los bendiga y los prospere siempre…un fuerte abrazo y que pasen navidad y feliz año nuevo
¡Felices fiestas y año nuevo para Ustedes! Gracias por el lindo e inesperado regalo que estaré explorando con mucha alegría, apenas termine la visita de amigos y parientes en estos días festivos.
Thank you so much Piano Street – lovely Christmas treats for us in Australia
Thank you so much PIano Street.
Thank you very much for the lovely Christmas songs.
Happy New Year ! Take care.
Thank you, for such a beautil gift.
Bless you all!
Piano Street – Thank you for your wonderful gift – you have surely captured the Christmas spirit for me here in Canada. Thank you.
Thank you for the excellent Christmas gift. It’s fun to try new arrangements and unfamiliar pieces.
Thank you for the lovely music!
Muchas gracias, es un bonito regalo