Reviews
EVC book reviews by Andrew Eales
Nov
Andrew Eales offers balanced, independent reviews of a wide range of music suitable for players of all levels. The aim of the Pianodao website is to inform, encourage and offer practical wisdom to help and support piano players and teachers.
Piano Tales for Alice by Nikki Iles
April 27, 2018
Elementary repertoire
The rise and rise of EVC Music Publications as an exciting and innovative music publisher can’t have escaped the notice of any player or teacher active on social media, and like many I have watched their emergence over the last three years or so with growing interest.
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Piano Tales for Peter Pan by Nikki Iles
July 30, 2020
Elementary repertoire
In the few years that I have been reviewing music publications on Pianodao, there have been a few standout releases which have gone on to become real favourites with my own students. An obvious winner in this sense is the brilliant Piano Tales for Alice, composed by Nikki Iles and published by EVC Music, which I reviewed here in 2018. Hot off the press, the much anticipated sequel Piano Tales for Peter Pan is out now, and for those who have been keen for its arrival I have good news:
Nikki Iles has done it again! Piano Tales for Peter Pan delivers another equally delicious mix of wit, imagination, and jazz-tinged brilliance.
So let’s take a look…
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A Tea Party for Alice
A few months ago I had the pleasure of writing a world-exclusive first review of Nikki Iles’ latest piano collection, Piano Tales for Alice, published by Elena Cobb’s EVC Music.
At the time of the review, I concluded:
“All in all, Piano Tales for Alice is an absolute delight – perhaps EVC Music’s most exciting publication and essential purchase to date. Hats off to publisher Elena Cobb, composer Nikki Iles, and all involved in bringing this exceptional publication to market.”
Next Level by Sam Wedgwood
December 20, 2020
Intermediate Repertoire
Son of best-selling educational piano composer Pam Wedgwood and younger brother of jazz musician Olly, Sam Wedgwood has carved out his own unique and highly successful career, firstly as a member of the Jamie Cullum band, and more recently as a songwriter and composer whose music has featured in many of the BBC’s most popular and successful shows.
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Birds Études-Tableaux by Andrew Higgins
Advanced Repertoire
As a reviewer I get to discover a surprising amount of great new pedagogic music, but it’s predominantly at the beginner to intermediate level. So it is particularly exciting when something arrives that is more challenging, and yet just as appealing.
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Seasons by Andrew Higgins
From time to time I review a music book here which subsequently establishes itself as a favourite with my students; such a book was the brilliant Birds: Études-Tableaux composed by Andrew Higgins, which I reviewed here. I was therefore naturally pleased to receive Higgins’ latest collection, Seasons, which is again published by the forward-looking publisher EVC Music, whose many recent useful and eye-catching publications have made such a positive mark on the pedagogic repertoire in recent years.
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Sound Sketches by Graham Lynch
March 23, 2018
Elementary Repertoire
Graham Lynch is a composer whose works have been performed by (among others) the BBC Symphony Orchestra, The Hilliard Ensemble, and in venues as diverse and prestigious as London’s South Bank and the Wigmore Hall, the Paris Conservatoire and the Merkin Hall New York. One of Graham’s more recent projects was his series of progressive piano repertoire books called Sound Sketches.
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Art Preludes by Graham Lynch
Advanced Repertoire
A recent review that I read elsewhere suggested that Elena Cobb’s EVC Music has “cornered the market in pedagogical, developmental publications for piano”. While this is something of an overstatement, it is certainly great to see EVC at last receiving its due recognition for a published catalogue that has continued to go from strength to strength. EVC Music is not just about pedagogy though; the company has been steadily bringing to market a growing and glowing range of performance works by contemporary composers, the latest of which is Art Preludes, a suite of five new pieces by British composer Graham Lynch.
Interested in finding our more?
Then read on…
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New York Nights by Philip Martin
Advanced Repertoire
Philip Martin has long been well-regarded as one of our finest concert pianists, recording artists, pedagogues and composers, writing music that combines the influences of the folk music he grew up with, the British classical scene he trained in, and a longstanding passion for American classical and jazz music. Now, in what must be regarded as a landmark publication, a retrospective collection of his more jazzy solo piano pieces have been published by Elena Cobb’s EVC Music Publications Ltd.
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