Best Piano Transcriptions
Piano transcription is the process of taking a complete composition written for another instrument or for an orchestra and adapting it to piano solo. This was an important part of a pianist’s repertoire throughout the nineteenth century, and Franz Liszt is credited with pioneering the genre, creating piano transcriptions of many major orchestral works and songs.
The best piano transcriptions succeed in marrying the most defining features of their underlying work with the unique characteristics of the piano. This is not easy, as the piano lacks the ability to sustain or swell notes like an orchestra or human voice. Liszt excelled at this technique, and created many of his own piano arrangements and paraphrases, including his famous piano transcriptions of the Beethoven symphonies. He also transcribed many of Schubert’s songs, including the ubiquitous Liebestraum No. 3 and O lieb so lang du lieben kannst, elevating them to concert pieces from obscure obscurity.
In these piano transcriptions, Liszt sought to capture the essence of each underlying piece and make it his own. By doing so, he was able to expand the repertoire of the piano and appeal to an audience hungry for new and exciting musical works. He was also active during a time when large advances in piano manufacture and production meant that the instrument was increasingly becoming available to the general public. As a result, amateur pianists were eager for repertoire that they could play at home, and virtuoso pianists used transcriptions to impress audiences with their unsurpassed skill and showmanship.
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The Best Piano Transcriptions
One of the best examples of an effective piano transcription is Leopold Stokowski’s orchestral arrangement of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, which was heard and seen by more people than any other version of the piece ever was, thanks to the Walt Disney film Fantasia. In his orchestral piano arrangements, Stokowski strove to recreate the full sound of an orchestra on the piano and succeeded admirably.
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Piano transcriptions are an essential tool for beginner pianists, who may become frustrated with the slow progress of learning from sheet music that was not designed for their skill level. Musicnotes’ Beginner Piano Collection includes arrangements for the first-time student that are written with large notes, enabling them to easily see and follow them. Each note’s name is written on the note head, making it even easier for new pianists to read the music. The collection also includes practice exercises and a variety of popular songs, including the “Fantasie Impromptu” by Chopin and a familiar excerpt from the famous “Fur Elise.”
Piano transcriptions are also a great way for students to learn jazz. Peter Martin’s Note-for-Note Jazz Piano offers a comprehensive introduction to the basics of jazz theory, chord progressions and rhythm. With 11 burning performances transcribed on the page, this book is a must for any jazz pianist’s library. BlueBlackJazz offers more than 400 jazz transcriptions in PDF format. These include a wide variety of jazz styles, from bop to swing and beyond, and cover improvisation, melody and harmony, as well as chord voicings and improvised rhythms.