Christmas music

I am looking for good piano arrangements of Christmas music.

I'd like something more than the standard 4-part choral type music that is widely available. Something that can stand as a solo piano piece; arrangements done in a classical style. And/or I'd really love to find music arranged to sound like an old victorian music box.

Can any of you make recommendations?

There is a music-box piece by Liadow, not specifically Christmas music, called "Une tabatiere a musique." This can be downloaded from Sheet Music Archive. http://www.sheetmusicarchive.net/single_listing.cfm?composer_id=60

Liszt did a piano-solo cycle of Christmas music called "Weihnachtsbaum" or "Christmas Tree." Much of this is not really familiar outside of Europe. There is the piece "Les bergers a la creche" which is an adaptation of "Good Christian Men Rejoice." Another piece, "March des trois rois mages," adapts "Adeste Fideles."

All the piano method-book series have Christmas books. The more advanced ones by Faber and Faber are said to be good.

[ September 24, 2001: Message edited by: MacDuff ]

Bernard:

Two fun Christmas duets (4 hands, 1 piano) are Robert D. Vandall's Duet Fantasy on Jingle Bells (Myklas Music Press) and Sleigh Ride, Leroy Anderson arr Michael Edwards (Mills Music, Inc.). Not solos, obviously - but great arrangements.

Hi Bernard,

I love the Christmas piano solos as performed by Richard Clayderman. The arrangements are usually made by Olivier Toussaint. There’s a sheetmusic book (40 pages, 11 pieces) which basically offers the same pieces as heard on Clayderman’s Christmas CD. Do you in the USA know him? This book seems to be distributed only in England and Australia (WISE Publications). I can give more info if you want.

Regards, Thea

Thank you all very much for your suggestions. MacDuff, I downloaded "Une tabatiere a musique". It's lovely and gives me a new challenge: I'll have to work on the outer trill with the inner voice melody in the right hand!

I ordered four Christmas books last year - Our piano teacher showed them to me, she used them to play background piano music at an upscale restaurant. Three of them are by John Carter (Carols for the Piano, More Carols for the Piano, Olde English Christmas) and one is by Eugenie Rocherolle - Christmas Around the Piano. They are all nice, slightly different, and interesting to listen to as piano solos. I ordered them from www.pattimusic.com Jodi

By all means try the Faber & Faber, but I also highly recommend the Reader's Digest Christmas collection. It has loads of classic stuff, in their original editions, and includes piano lyrics and guitar chord maps, as well as a seperate lyric booklet for others to sing along. I bought it last year, and loved it.

Jamie

(PS The collection is called Reader's Digest Merry Christmas Songbook. 110 selections, 252 ciol bound pages in a hard cover. Ideal for staying flat on the piano music desk. You can find some reviews of it at amazon.com. It's available there for $34.00)

[ October 01, 2001: Message edited by: Samejame ]

Jodi,

On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most difficult, what level of difficulty would you rate the John Carter books?

Thanks,
Mike

I would call them intermediate books - some are easier than others, but not so easy that they are uninteresting to play. Somewhere between a 3 and a 4, maybe? Some of the arrangements in the Carter books are long (and border on 'new age') The Rocherolle book has shorter arrangements. They aren't very expensive. Jodi

Thanks Jodi.

At sheetmusic.plus I found an interesting Christmas pianosolo book by David Lanz. I listened to some of the pieces at Morpheus and am now thinking of ordering this book.
However, some people mentioned in their recommendations that he uses 10th-spans for the left hand. I can only reach an octave. Does anyone know if these 10ths occur very often? I wouldn't mind an occasional "roll" (is that how it's called?), but if it's too frequent I'd better not buy this.
Please advice. Thanks, Thea

If I am correct about this, David Lanz does use tenths now and then, but they are not mainstream (definitely nothing on the order of what you might find in stride piano) thus you should not have to much trouble. If this is music from his Christams Eve collection ,you shouldn't have many problems concerning the tenths. I am not really a fan of his music, but I really did like his christmas music. It's great stuff to play at hotels, recitals, Et cetara. His music can be quite difficult, but if you are a fairly accomplished pianist, you should be able to handle it. Also, keep in mind that David Lanz does lots of improvising. Thus, do not be surprised if the sheetmusic is a little different from what you hear. However, I do not have any of the music currently. If you want more info I suggest you post this question at the forums at www.DavidLanz.com.

Thank you, SethW, I just placed my order!
Regards, Thea