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Clementi - Spiritoso (1st mvt from Sonatina in C, Op. 36 No. 3)
ABRSM Grade 5 – A2
Resources & links This piece is available for individual purchase as a digital download here or in print as part of the Piano Exam Pieces 2025 & 2026 Grade 5 publication here.... Read >>
David Önaç - A Distant Star in the Stillness
ABRSM Grade 5 - C3
David Önaç’s cosmic soundscape is an ideal piece to stimulate the imagination. It will help to read the composer’s programme note at the foot of the page, where he describes how he found inspiration from the vastness of space, how “gigantic stars…appear as tiny dots in our night sky”. Using jazz-influenced chords, this piece uses the high and low registers of the piano to conjure up vast distances, blending sounds together using the pedal. Preview (please log-in or subscribe to see full video) ... Read >>
Beethoven - Bagatelle in G minor, Op. 119 No. 1
ABRSM Grade 5 – A5
A bagatelle is a short piece, usually light in nature. Beethoven wrote several sets of bagatelles throughout his life, the opus 119 set was completed in 1820. The G minor, op. 119 no. 1 is like a minuet, beginning with a melancholy theme in G minor, followed by a calmer section in E flat major. A short bridge brings us back to the opening theme, this time varied with more activity and an especially athletic left hand part. A Picardy third ends the piece with a smile. Preview (please log-in... Read >>
Schumann - Von fremden Ländern und Menschen (No. 1 from Kinderscenen, Op. 15)
ABRSM Grade 5 – B10
Kinderszenen (Scenes of Childhood) is a set of 13 pieces written in 1838 in which Schumann looks back on childhood memories from the perspective of an adult. The opening piece, Von fremden Ländern und Menschen (Of Foreign Lands and People) features a diminished chord on the second beat of the first bar. The player needs to colour the sound here to create a sense of wonder or mystery. The texture of the piece is typical of the Romantic style - a top melody supported by broken chords and a bass line (a counter melody appears in the bass in... Read >>