Ludovico Einaudi - Graded Pieces for Piano: Grades 3-5 Bk/Online Audio

Purchased both of these collections of Einaudi's 'greatest hits' for formal piano testing and preparation. Don't plan on using them for their expressed purpose but largely to learn simplified versions of his best New Age/Contemporary Piano music. My review of his other book of Graded Pieces for Piano applies just as well for this volume:A great introduction to Einaudi's most well-known compositions. Arranged in order of difficulty with tips on learning the more difficult parts at the beginning of each piece. Gives even the beginning pianist the opportunity to learn some of his beautiful melodies by using simplified and shortened arrangements. These shortened versions have been clearly done by professional lovers of his music as the songs despite their brief length still convey much of the beauty and emotion of the originals. Added benefit is that you can go online and hear each piece played beautifully with all the dynamics which are noted on the sheet music. Additionally you can upload your own performance of each piece and see how it compares with the written music. Well worth the cost of this great learning tool.

Like: The overall offering and concept of "Soundcheck". Affordable. I like the warmups provided before each song.Dislike:1. App is only offered via Apple iOS...is it really that difficult to offer on Android? This has limited my willingness to refer this product to friends.2. Soundcheck failure - Einaudi's "Primavera" (one of my favorite) does not function on Soundcheck at all. I've tried restarting my Apple tablet and loading on different internet sources, speeds, etc. and "Primavera" via Soundcheck does not load.3. Customer service is non-responsive regarding resolving the aforementioned failure. I've reached out several times with no response. This has been quite annoying and disappointing.4. Wish I could include personal notes on digital content/pages

I just simply love everything composed by this Italian Composer. The pieces written for piano are a delight to play. Watch him perform on YouTube channels and you will hear the beauty, in doing so, I couldn’t wait to sit down at my piano with this book.

Excellent to practice beautiful pieces

This book together with the online contents make for a great resource for piano students and teachers! I think the arrangements are appropriate for late beginners/early intermediate players wanting to learn Einaudi, or for more advanced players wanting either an easy introduction to Einaudi, or even just for Einaudi fans wanting something to practice sightreading with. It is arranged with the easiest pieces (arrangements) first, and then the arrangements get progressively harder with each piece. I consider myself a late intermediate (?) and have played many Einaudi pieces in their original arrangements, but one reason I got this book is because it includes pieces that I felt were a little imtimidating in the original (e.g., Divenire, Primavera, and Andare), so I plan to use these shorter arrangements as an entry into the original arrangements. (the other reason I bought the book was because I love Einaudi and needed an excuse to get a new scorebook by him!)Compared to the original scores, the arrangements here are of course simplified and shortened (more or less depending on the piece), but still retain the compelling feel of Einaudi music. The online website includes the audio for each piece (played to match the score, a great learning tool) and also an eBook version if you want to read the score on an iPad or tablet, which is really great! I have not used the interactive practice app, but that might be especially appealing to teen piano students.I agree with other reviewers who complained about the book binding, I'll be breaking the spine to get it to stay open, and I will eventually move to just playing from the eBook version with my iPad. But that detail isn't enough to make me lower my rating, considering all the extras you can get online with this book, and the fact that I bought it on sale for $15, it's a great buy! (Even the original price is worth it given the online contents).I haven't played any of the practice exercises yet, maybe I'll post an update after I do. (for now though, this review is probably long enough...)

Only one star given to it at the moment because the supporting app, soundwise, is not working. On the inside front cover of the book you have a unique code to enter into soundwise.co.uk.However when I go to the website it says in order to enter the unique code you first of all need to create an account. So, I create an account. Having created the account it says now open the app – so I download the app and there is absolutely nowhere on the app to enter your unique code. This is complete rubbish.The app is also saying that saying that I haven’t verified my email address but I have emailed it now – twice. This is where technology drives me nuts.I have emailed support so let’s see how quickly they come back to me and if they do and the problem is resolved then I will re-write this review. Otherwise, the book is going back

Fantastic way of learning some lovely music. With the app you can hear how the pieces are supposed to sound plus play along to the practice bars of music at the beginning. I am learning to play the harp and these pieces sound just as beautiful on the harp as they do on the piano. Agree with the other comments about the book binding which makes it a bit tricky turning the pages, you have to really flatten the book. Other than this it is brilliant and wish all sheet music could come with the soundwise app.

Excellent book I have longed for this type of piano book and with the online resource it makes it doubly worth it. Ludivico's music is timeless and a joy to learn

This is a super book. All the pieces are easy to follow and sound lovely when played

Really good to get back into playing, wish some of the pieces were a little longer and not the abridged, but do like how it seems a progressive lesson type setup, found some tricky but working through them