This collection of intermediate piano solos includes 20 arrangements of some of the most romantic songs from ages past. These beautiful, lyrical songs are perfect for weddings, easy listening repertoire, personal enjoyment, and even a few for church worship services.

These arrangements were created to make challenging classical music more accessible for the intermediate player or easier to sight-read by more advanced players (comes in handy when asked to perform on short notice). Another feature of these arrangements is they are consistent at the intermediate to advanced-intermediate skill level throughout each piece. Many have been simplified and only include excerpts from the longer original movements. Other simplified characteristics include easier key signatures, timings, and fingerings. Complimentary interludes and introductions were added when appropriate and melodies modified to create a more contemporary sound.

Each of the 20 arrangements is also available separately with accompanying preview pages and audio samples. The audio sample plays ?Starlight Serenade? by Alexander Ilyinsky.

Titles in this collection include:
Aura Lea ~ by George Poulton
Butterfly Serenade ~ Impromptu (Op. 90, No. 3) by Franz Schubert
Cherish the Moments ~ Rondo from Pathétique by Ludwig van Beethoven
Dance with Me ~ Valse Lente from ?Coppelia? by Leo Delibes
Dream with Me ~ Andante from Piano Concerto No. 21 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Evening Breezes ~ Intermezzo from Carmen Suite No. 1 by Georges Bizet
A Journey of Love ~ Sicilienne by Gabriel Fauré
The Joys of Love ~ Plaisir d?Amour by Jean-Paul Martini
Jupiter from ?The Planets? ~ by GustavHolst
Love?s Greeting ~ Salut d?Amour by Edward Elgar
Melody of Love ~ by Hans Engelmann
Moonlight Sonata ~ Adagio from Sonata Op. 27, No. 2 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Nightingale Serenade ~ Serenata by Enrico Toselli
O Lord Most Holy ~ Panis Angelicus by Cesar Auguste Franck
Orange Blossoms in Spring ~ Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni
A Romanian Love Song ~ Rumänisches Liebesleben by Iosif Ivanovici
Spring ~ Allegretto from Songs without Words by Felix Mendelssohn

Starlight Serenade ~ Berceuse Op. 13, No. 7 by Alexander Ilyinsky
Waves of the Danube ~ Donauwellen by Iosif Ivanovici
Yearning for Love ~ Adagio from Pathétique by Ludwig van Beethoven

Peteris Vasks occupies a special position in the circle of Baltic composers. He is not only the most significant and popular composer ever to come out of Latvia. he always speaks to his listeners with a fervent intensity that seems to point to something higher. This higher aspect is without a doubt something that stands above the world of humanity but is also present within each person: divine nature.

"I am deeply rooted in nature, in the nature of the North. It influences all of my music. The nature we know is also quite various. we have four very distinct seasons. The winter is very long, the summer very short and therefore all the more beautiful and longed for. The seasons in between are quite dramatic."

The first of Peteris Vasks's Seasons pieces was not written with the intention of forming a complete cycle. For his friend, Talivaldis Deksnis, he composed in 1980 Balta ainava - White Landscape (Winter), in 1981 Rudens muzika - Autumn Music, and in 1995 the Pavasara muzika - Spring Music. In 2008, Zala ainava - Green Landscape (Summer) came into being, the piece which completed the cycle.

In 2009, as a kind of "encore", Vasks wrote Vasaras vakara muzika - Music for a Summer Evening based on old sketches. this, of all the pieces, is the one most anchored in tradition. Only the two newest pieces - both of which have to do with summer - have a fixed metrical structure. The three earlier works are metrically free, notated without bar lines, which gives them an improvisatory character.

Vasks says of the individual pieces in the cycle: "In Balta ainava everything is white. A new year begins. It is a quiet meditation, a new beginning, with only two themes.

Pavasara muzika. Quasi una Sonata - the most demanding piece in this cycle - is intense, an impressive development. Spring comes slowly, with much drama. It is like a battle, until it is simply there. This multi-faceted piece, with its bird songs, lives from conflicts and dramatic intensification and ends in ecstatic rapture. Zala ainava is based on two themes. Our summer is very brief and offers a respite after the battles. And it is so beautiful! The music reflects joy and contentment. The first theme brings a kind of pure energy. the second is more devoted to tone painting. At the end, a five-note quotation from a well-known Latvian folksong about a drunkard is heard.

Rudens muzika begins pianissimo on a quiet September day, in a peaceful, sunny atmosphere. Now the autumn storms sweep over the land. a gentle sadness settles on the people and on nature, which surrenders its splendor. After a last great storm, the snow comes again as a symbol of purified conclusion and a new beginning. Vasaras vakara muzika takes place at the quiet end of a summer day. The sun sets. Slowness. Memories of previous experiences surface. With the memories' appearance comes an increase in intensity. Towards the end, a kind of folksong is heard: 'We have survived the time of tyranny and retained our identity'. The ending is quiet, everything is asleep."

Christoph Schluren

Translation: John Patrick Thomas and W. Richard Rieves

Digital Pack includes:

1. Edelweiss (from The Sound of Music)
2. It Might As Well Be Spring
3. Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin' (from Oklahoma!)
4. I Have Dreamed
5. Some Enchanted Evening (from South Pacific)

Song List: The First Noel Just A Song At Twilight (Love's Old Sweet Song) Largo Long, Long Ago Old Black Joe Processional (Williams L) Silent Night Spring Song, Op.68 #15 Autumn Song Polish Dance Aria (Weber) Aria (Handel) Duet (Hohmann) Aria (Hohmann) Morning Song (Hohmann) Serenade (Hohmann) Scotch Air Soldier's March (Hohmann) Homeward Bound (H0hmann) Night Winds (Hohmann) Aria (Donizetti) Festival Day (Balfe) Duet (Wohlfahrt) Pomp And Chivalry (Wohlfahrt) Andantino (Pleyel) Allegro De Concert (Dancla) Allegretto Con Variazioni(Pleyel Valse Evening Song My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean Little Brown Jug Barcarolle Country Dance Waltz Auld Lang Syne Ode To Joy Home On The Range Caprice Jingle Bells Nocturne, Op. 33 O Come, All Ye Faithful Folk Dance, Op. 39, No. 13 Waltz, Op. 39, No. 8