Kaleidoscope Romantic Piano Pieces.

Kaleidoscope Romantic Piano Pieces. * Kaleidoscope Romantic Piano Pieces, by Agnes Lakos. Editio MusicaBudapest, 2010. www.emb.hu; 51 pp., $14.95. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Kaleidoscope features 25 pieces from romantic era composersBurgmuller, Field, Gurlitt, Heller and Kohler. The selections are quiteshort, occupying only one or two pages of music, and for the most part,feature a specific technical or stylistic challenge for the duration ofthe work. The old adage to not judge a book by its cover is especiallyapplicable to Kaleidoscope, as the juvenile artwork suggests a targetaudience of a much younger pianist than the included repertoire mightindicate. The pieces are consistently leveled for late intermediate toearly advanced pianists, approximately corresponding to level 7-8 ofJane Magrath's Pianist's Guide. The selections are quite satisfying, often perfectly encapsulatingthe essential points of style for several romantic genres including thepolonaise, mazurka, waltz and several pieces similar in structure toMendelssohn's Songs Without Words. By and large, the pieces aremuch easier than similarly titled works from Chopin, Liszt and Brahms. One minor frustration: the identifying catalog numbers are notprinted with the composer's name on the music itself, but areinstead included in a table of contents provided on the last page of thecollection. Given the brevity and consistency in texture, this collection worksreally well as miniature etudes in style. The selections offer theopportunity to achieve simplified romantic textures while developing theability to project a melody out of an intricate texture, negotiate anarpeggiated accompaniment, or develop spatial abilities for a clean jumpbass, preparing students for those challenges in the more difficultrepertoire of the romantic era masters. Though perhaps too brief to be featured in a collective studiorecital, they do provide some interesting alternatives to the standardteaching repertoire for inclusion in competitions and auditions. Theywould also make great encore pieces for an early advanced studentpresenting a solo recital. --Reviewed by N. Mason Conklin, NCTM, IowaState University * The items marked with this symbol can be ordered via the MTNAwebsite through our affiliation with Amazon.com. Go to www.mma.org andchoose Member Services from the Membership option in the main menu barfor more information.