I was delighted to be asked to review, and play through, Stars, an alluring collection of pieces for young pianists by June Armstrong. All the compositions have enticing titles and covey the vivid images of a starlit night sky coloured and enhanced by a dream-like imagination; effectively musical paintings.
The harmonic world is evocative and refreshingly unpredictable with just a hint of Debussy, Phillip Glass and even Peter Sculthorpe (have a listen to his Night Pieces as a comparison, something for pupils to aspire to later on). All of them will nurture and inspire an ear for, and control of, pedalled tonal colour, as well as the importance for space, time and sonority. I particularly loved Unicorn with its magical stillness and ravishing tonal world, and was very taken with Sails, a descriptive and entrancing piece with the added bonus of encouraging good left hand scalic control and an ear for balance. Yes the collection has huge educational value and is excellent teaching repertoire, but many of the compositions transcend this in their originality and appeal. Anthony Williams - ABRSM examiner, presenter and selector
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Delivery Times
We aim to dispatch every order within 24 hours excluding weekends.
However, we have learned from experience not to make promises regarding delivery. We aim simply to provide you with a reliable service at a reasonable cost. To keep our prices competitive we do not keep huge stocks of any particular item. No matter how good our stock control, there will occasionally be times when a particular item is not immediately available.
Sometimes this will be due to overwhelming demand, and sometimes it will be due to circumstances beyond our control, such as the item having gone to reprint or out of print. You should be aware that your payment is taken automatically online at the time you place your order. In the circumstances outlined above, we will do our best to contact you and inform you of any anticipated delays. You may cancel your order at any time if you are not happy to wait.
Although we make every effort to ship your order according to these guidelines, we will not be held responsible for any loss or damage caused by delayed delivery.
Stock information:
Regularly updated stock information is now available to view online at ScoreStore. This information can, on occasion, be incorrect due to delays of up to 12 hours in updating. Our system will also allow you to order more items than we have in stock at any one time. If you require urgent delivery of a large order, please contact us to confirm current stock levels. Our Freephone number is 0800 072 0354 and we are in the office 9-5, Monday to Friday.
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In the event that your item is faulty you may return it to us within thirty days and we will refund the cost of the item and reimburse the cost of returning the item to us.
If our error has led to an item has been mistakenly supplied to you and it is unopened and in as-new condition, you may return it to us within thirty days and we will refund the cost of the item and reimburse the cost of returning the item to us.
If you have decided that you do not wish to keep an item that has been correctly supplied, you may return it to us unopened in as-new condition within thirty days. In this case we will refund the cost of the item and you will be responsible for the cost of returning the item to us. You may not return items that we have ordered specially for you unless they are faulty or supplied in error.
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