Dreams From Childhood for Piano, Four Hands. (Keyboard).

Dreams From Childhood for Piano, Four Hands, by Robert Maggio. Theodore Presser Co. (588 N. Gulph Rd., King of Prussia, PA 19406), 2001. 39 pp., $10. Late intermediate to early advanced.

Most teachers recognize the importance of ensemble playing as being integral to students' musical and pianistic development. In the solitary existence of a pianist, great joy can be shared with colleagues, fellow students and the audience when thoughtfully composed, attractive ensemble music appears. Dreams from Childhood is a collection of four late intermediate to early advanced pieces for piano composed by Robert Maggio. Each piece is a delightful excursion into the descriptive elements of ensemble playing and music-making. Popular, minimalist, new age, descriptive and traditional styles are presented in a way that promotes both educational and musical challenges in a diverse collection that never descends into the cliches so often associated with these composition styles. The pieces are pedagogically sound, very well composed for four hands, melodically clever and harmonically daring. In short, they are welcome additions to the duet literature and are technically approachable, musically intriguing and aurally scintillating.

Each of the four pieces is very clearly reproduced with appreciated attention given to the accommodation of page turns. The parts are consistent in level, with great consideration given to pedagogical issues such as part distribution, keyboard patterns, ensemble considerations, and rhythmic and metrical relationships.

"I Am a Rock Star" is notable for the challenges associated with rock-style syncopations and rapid pattern changes.

"Swimming Beneath the Frozen Surface of the Lake" is comprised of melody against swirling repetitive patterns. While difficult to count, the symmetry of the phrases grounds students in the meter of the piece, allowing them to solve the challenges in listening, counting and texture. It is one of the most attractive pieces in the set, incorporating some minimalist and new age-like sounds while maintaining strong melodic and harmonic direction.

"In the Middle of the Night, Something or Someone Is Under the Bed and I Decide to Look" is a wonderfully descriptive piece that consists of chromatically rising rhythmic effects within one long crescendo and accelerando. This piece presents a wealth of colorful and challenging ensemble problems made accessible by the descriptive character.

"The Carousel Horses Take Off" is one of the most challenging pieces in the set. Initially in triple meter (3/4), hemiola is used in the melody with further meter changes from 314 to 214, 414, and 3/2. Challenges in rhythm, harmony, counting and listening make the piece difficult yet accessible through the attention given to patterns and their relationship to meter.

Used individually or as a set, Dreams from Childhood is a collection that has great value as teaching and performance literature. It is rare to find a collection of duet literature at this level that has been so thoughtfully and pedagogically conceived. The pieces are truly a joy to perform and will prove both challenging and interesting to students and teachers.

Maggio is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania, and he currently serves as associate professor of music theory and composition at West Chester University. His works have been commissioned and performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony and the Boston Pops, and he has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Reviewed by Scott Price, Columbia, South Carolina.