ABILITY RATING INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED
It is my pleasure to introduce you to the Andante from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s ‘Three-Fours’ Valse Suite Op 71 (published 1909). This beautifully crafted piece might not be as familiar as some other repertoire – however, as we work through ideas for practice and interpretation, you will find that the techniques we apply to piano works by other Romantic composers (e.g. Liszt, Brahms, Schumann, Chopin etc) apply here. Yet, Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) was no imitator. In the late 19th century, he burst onto the British classical music scene with a strong sense of his own voice. So, before we delve into the music, I offer a brief outline of a man who was, in his time, regarded as a British institution.
Biographical sketch
‘He is far and away the cleverest fellow going amongst the young men,’ wrote Edward Elgar of
