Sheet music reviews: Big Pieces for Small Hands

Béla Hartmann wrote this set of six pieces for intermediate to advanced players for his daughter. As is frequently the case, young pianists find that their technical ability is far ahead of their physical size. This means they are restricted in looking for more advanced repertoire that is both enjoyable to play and doesn't require too much altering or leaving out of written notes. While young players have a wealth of Baroque and Classical repertoire within their grasps, vast swathes of music are unattainable. Romantic and 20th-century repertoire, with its swirling polyphony and virtuosic writing, is often impossible to tackle. Even without Rachmaninov's legendary hand span of a 13th, this music is tantalisingly out of reach until a pianist's hands have grown and can do it justice.

Hartmann is a performer, composer, teacher and writer. He was a semi-finalist at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2000 and has since performed in New York's Carnegie Hall and London's Wigmore Hall. He has also performed Schubert's complete Piano Sonatas at Steinway Hall, London.

In the introduction to Big Pieces for Small Hands, Hartmann says: ‘The pieces in this volume were written specifically to help younger players with small hands enjoy those exciting pianistic effects that would otherwise elude them – big crashing chords, huge bass sonorities and the virtuoso style that normally comes with larger hand sizes. When a young player has spent years improving technique, speeding up those scales and getting a good grasp of the keyboard, they deserve to be rewarded with pieces that are hard to learn but exciting; pieces that make the most of the instrument. The pieces in this book aim to help bridge that gap until Chopin, and Liszt, or Rachmaninov and Ravel become available.’ As a small-handed pianist myself, it's always refreshing to discover music that is playable without needing to edit the original, which always ends up sounding not quite right, and leaves a tinge of frustration.

There is an approximate grade given to each piece in the book and a QR code linking to a performance on YouTube. The volume begins with Introduction (Grade 6/7) in the style of a Promenade, featuring a persistent dotted rhythm set off by sonorous octave chords making good use of the lower register. The technical difficulty lies within moving the hands to the next chord and maintaining a strict tempo. For the next piece, Étude (Grade 8), the clue is in the name: marked ‘Vivace’, it requires cleanly-executed fingerwork. The Scherzo (Grade 5) is largely monophonic, with the main staccato motif presented in descending sequences punctuated with cadences. This piece takes the small hand seriously and ends with a chromatic run followed by a glissando. The Little Prelude (Grade 5) is in a Baroque style and doesn't slip out of character for a moment. It is almost like a duet between a harpsichord and violin; the left hand provides a calm juxtaposition to the right hand with steady crotchets throughout. Lied ohne Worte (Grade 5/6) is certainly in the style of Mendelssohn, and the inside semiquaver accompaniment needs to be played lightly and clearly so it does not detract from the simple melody above and below. The final piece, Étude No. 2 (Grade 8), is possibly the hardest in the book. Marked ‘Allegro appassionato’, the music maintains quaver motion until the final bars before giving way to a dotted rhythm and a virtuosic, descending run of semiquaver chords.

Overall, these pieces stay true to the styles on which they are based, and to the less experienced listener would sound authentic. Whether performed as single miniatures or as a complete suite, these pieces are suitable for any concert or festival. They are well written, imaginative and appealing, and I hope they gain recognition among young pianists and their teachers looking for attainable as well as inspirational material.