Heartetudes: Four Intermediate to Advanced Level Piano Solos. (Keyboard).

Heartetudes: Four Intermediate to Advanced Level Piano Solos, by Seymour Bernstein. The Willis Music Company, (P.O. Box 548, Florence, KY 41022-0548), 1998. 12 pp., $4.95. Moderately difficult.

Upon first reading through this new set of new etudes by the distinguished American composer Seymour Bernstein, one is immediately struck by the beauty of these works called etudes. In fact, to a large extent, these etudes deal with problems that are more musical in nature than technical. Using the definition of an etude as "any musical composition intended as a basis for improvement of the performer," Bernstein proceeds to create compositions that ultimately test the player's musicality as much as his technical prowess. Indeed, in the introductory remarks, Bernstein states that his "overall intent was to use technique as a means towards musical ends." That's not to say that the technical challenges aren't formidable; the last etude, Of Good and Evil has some treacherous finger-twisting passages that require the skills of an advanced performer. But it would be wrong to say that the technical difficulties are greater than the musical difficulties. And to my mind, therein lies the real beauty of these wonderful new works, for Bernstein demonstrates that technique cannot be separated from music.

Heartetudes consists of four pieces, each progressively more ...