Great Ballet Music: Piano Book

Opening this book, you encounter the theatrical world of 19th and early 20th century ballet: the exotic mystery of Scheherazade, the crystalline delicacy of Swan Lake, the earthy vigor of Russian folk idioms. Each piece carries the narrative weight and emotional arc that made ballet a dominant art form, now given new life through your hands at the keyboard.

Intermediate through advanced pianists preparing for competitions, recitals, and concerts where a curated anthology serves better than searching for scattered arrangements. Studio teachers will find reliable, well-edited texts across a repertoire range that challenges students in different ways.

• Treat the orchestral colors in pieces like Scheherazade and Afternoon of a Faun as a challenge to your voicing and pedal work; the piano must suggest an ensemble's layered sonorities through touch and sustain control.
• Establish the character of each dance form early in your practice. The rhythmic propulsion of Hopak and the Russian Sailors' Dance requires a different physical approach than the sustained lyricism of The Swan and Les Sylphides.
• Balance technical passage work (particularly in Petrouchka and Waltz of the Flowers) with the lyrical phrasing that makes ballet music memorable. Speed without shape reads as nerves, not virtuosity.

Select individual pieces as recital openers, closers, or contrasting midprogram moments rather than programming the collection as a whole. A student performing The Swan or Waltz of the Flowers will command immediate audience attention; pair them with contemporary or classical works to frame them effectively within a larger arc.

• Sustaining lyrical phrasing across extended passages while managing complex harmonies
• Translating orchestral textures and colors to the piano through voicing and pedal technique
• Executing rhythmic precision in diverse meters and dance forms (waltz, hopak, farandole patterns)
• Building interpretive depth in character pieces with narrative or programmatic content
• Managing technical passages (arpeggios, rapid figurations) without sacrificing musical intent