Murray McLachlan reviews the Piano Hive book series by James Thompson and Janette Mason, published by Piano Hive Publishing.

In the elegantly colourful Piano Hive series we have a flexible, user-friendly selection of anthologies which pianists of all persuasions could find extremely useful in the early and intermediate stages of their development; so far there are eight books serving beginner to Grade 5 level. The Grade 1 and 2 selections present a compilation of pieces from the other anthologies. All the books come with MP3 recordings, easily accessible through QR codes.

Although there are welcome contrasts of characterisation throughout each book, the overriding mood of each volume is relaxed. We are in the world of generic background music and film scores, where the dulcet sounds of Ludovico Einaudi and ‘easy listening’ always seems close by. This is music that calms and soothes.

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