This delightful new volume of piano miniatures by British composer Ruth Sellar follows hot on the heels of her first collection, A Musical Year, reviewed in the April 2024 issue of Music Teacher. This time, Sellar has found inspiration in ‘various means of transport’, ranging from steam train and bicycle to hot air balloon and camel train. She writes: ‘Perhaps your listeners can guess the form of transport without knowing the title first!’
Sellar is an accomplished pianist and teacher whose extensive experience as a performer has given her a strong practical understanding of the piano and its challenges. Her music falls comfortably under the hand while also stretching the player in ways that develop core techniques.
All 12 pieces in A Musical Journey display the same high level of craftsmanship and imagination as A Musical Year, and are similarly inspiring to learn. Both collections are aimed at the intermediate pianist, but there are some extra challenges here that make these pieces even more satisfying, particularly in terms of rhythm and texture.
The opening number is ‘The Steam Train’, which gets us off to a flying start with its syncopated left-hand rhythm accompanying a joyful, flowing melody in F-sharp major. Halfway through, we enter a tunnel, and the music takes a darker turn for a few bars before reappearing – marked ‘Back into the open’. A brief coda evokes the train's whistle.
‘The Bicycle’ is a freewheeling moto perpetuo that demands deft fingerwork in both hands, while ‘The Sailing Boat’ juxtaposes a lilting waltz-like melody with a more turbulent middle section. In each case, minor keys are used to reflect the fact that life isn't all plain sailing, even if things ultimately turn out well.
Next comes ‘The Tractor’, which makes brilliant use of its 7/8 time signature and chords built of fourths and fifths to capture a sense of raw power. This is a fun and rhythmically challenging piece that will prepare players for Bartók's folk music transcriptions. ‘The Police Car’ is marked ‘With urgency’ and suggests a fast-paced chase, though its lighthearted character is more Keystone Cops than Line of Duty.
Flowing left-hand semiquavers give ‘The Hot Air Balloon’ its sense of weightlessness, and we are encouraged to ‘enjoy the view!’. The simple melody of this piece is elaborated with an inner voice that makes for some attractive three-part writing, and a temporary shift from G major to E-flat major for the middle section adds interest.
It's Christmastime in No. 7, ‘The Sleigh’, whose 5/8 time signature and sparkling harmonies recall the Troika from Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé. For ‘Walking’, Sellar makes use of a descending walking bass line under languid bluesy triplets.
‘The Camel Train’ is an Oriental fantasy that depicts the slow-moving ungulates lumbering across the desert. Sustained pedal notes underpin a wandering melody in A minor, which moves to the left hand for the middle section in E minor. ‘The Glider’ also makes use of sustain to blur its added-note harmonies that carry us aloft as they soar into the stratosphere.
‘The Ice Cream Van’ may not be a means of transport most of us use, but the instantly recognisable sound of its siren is a clarion call for children to have fun. Marked ‘With sunshine’, this is an upbeat ragtime that takes its cue from Joplin, starting and ending in D major with excursions to G major and C major.
The finale is ‘The Royal Carriage’, a fanfare-like theme with variations in C major, presumably inspired by the King's recent Coronation. It is an impressive and weighty conclusion to a volume that will bring many hours of pleasure to pianists looking for engaging new material to test and extend their skills. Production values are as high as A Musical Year and mirror the quality of Sellar's music. Strongly recommended.
