Most of Bernstein's compositions for solo piano took the form of the Anniversary. Bernstein is not the first composer to have written a short homage to commemorate a special date; he perhaps took his inspiration from Virgil Thompson (1896-1989) and that composer's Portraits. Bernstein wrote a total of 29 Anniversaries spanning virtually the entirety of his creative life, from the early 1940s until the late 1980s. Each of the Anniversaries were written in honor of someone in Bernstein's life: mentors, friends, students, teachers. Except for those cited as “In Memoriam,” the Anniversaries were birthday presents, and thus, the honoree's birthday was included with the title.
This newly researched and engraved edition features extensive performance notes and an extensive composer biography. It also includes access to video piano lessons with editor Michael Mizrahi addressing topics in 16 of Bernstein's Anniversaries. Includes pieces from Four Anniversaries, Five Anniversaries, Seven Anniversaries, and Thirteen Anniversaries.
The video lessons are accessed online using the unique code inside each book and can be downloaded or streamed.
Contents: FROM SEVEN ANNIVERSARIES: For Aaron Copland • In Memoriam: Alfred Eisner • In Memoriam: Nathalie Koussevitzky • For Sergei Koussevitzky • For William Schuman • from FOUR ANNIVERSARIES: For Felicia Montealegre • For Johnny Mehegan • from FIVE ANNIVERSARIES: For Elizabeth Rudolf • For Lukas Foss • For Susanna Kyle • from THIRTEEN ANNIVERSARIES: For Shirley Gabi Rhoads Pirle • For Stephen Sondheim • for Craig Urquhart • for Leo Smit • In Memoriam: Helen Coates • In Memoriam: Ellen Goetz
