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Staff Picks: May 2026
- 18 May 2026
Welcome to Schott Staff Picks, a monthly roundup where our ragtag team of musicians, music lovers, and afficionados pick out their favourite sheet music titles, both old and new. Whether it's beloved classics, contemporary soundtracks from our film fans, jazz standards from icons, or folk tunes from all sorts of composers and artists, our selection aims to cover every style, instrument, and difficult level.
So have a look at our picks for May 2026 below, and expect our honest, personal takes, including anecdotes, historical context, tips, and whatever else we think of as we recommend whatever might be piquing our interest!
RECOMMENDED BY ALISON
The Piano Songbook: Volume 1
Nina Simone
Volume 1 contains many of Nina Simone's most famous songs in arrangements as she performed them. One of the many things I like about this book, is that the transcriptions are truthful to her masterly piano accompaniments to her own voice.
'I Put A Spell On You' is one such example. The piano line contrasts so well the low starting pitch of her voice with a high twinkling piano line which she follows by singing a similar refrain a bar later. Where some books only double the main melody, this volume takes the trouble to stay true to the independence of each the piano and vocal lines. Where the voice or the piano has solo lines, this edition has notated them, true to the often very famous opening line, as in 'Feelin' Good' or the legendary piano solo of 'Sinnerman'.
This volume contains 15 songs, including 'I Loves You Porgy', 'My Baby Just Cares For Me' and 'Ain't Got No, I Got Life'. There is also a second volume which is certainly up to the quality of the first, with a selection of other Nina Simone classics.
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The Piano Player: Anime
19 Themes from Japanese Anime Soundtracks
A new release I was incredibly excited about this month is the latest instalment in Faber's The Piano Player series: Anime! We have plenty of film and TV piano books, but anime collections are still surprisingly rare — something I really hope changes! And while there are a few pieces I personally would have loved to see included — such as 'Again' from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood or even 'Tank!' from Cowboy Bebop — the selection covers plenty of fan favourites, with a range of music from Studio Ghibli films and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
Overall, it strikes a balance that will likely appeal to a wide range of anime fans. I'd highly recommend it to pianists at an intermediate level (or even slightly below that, if you're looking for a challenge!) who have an interest in anime music.
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RECOMMENDED BY ELLE
Jazz in Springtime
Nikki Iles
With the flowers blooming (and pollen drifting...) this collection perfectly encapsulates that wonderful shift into spring. Iles's seemingly infinite knowledge of jazz allows her to collate pieces together beautifully. I find her arrangements both interesting and accessible, and this collection from her seasonal series is one of her best.
Included are staples like 'It Might As Well Be Spring' and 'April in Paris' but she's also added songs about flowers blooming, as well as her own spring-like compositions. Even if it's not directly implied, I find that 'I've Got The World On A String' elicits that specific joyfulness of springtime - also perhaps a rhyming pun involved there?! Anyway, this book never fails to get me out of a cold and rainy funk every time!
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Farewell to Stromness
Peter Mawell Davis
This folk-based piece of apparent simplicity carries the poignancy of the disappearing lifestyles in remote Scottish communities, in this case threatened by a proposed Uranium mining station two miles from Stromness in Orkney where famous avant garde composer Peter Maxwell Davis made his home from the 1970s.
It was here he founded and ran the Orkney Folk Festival which is still running and worth a visit. Sadly 'Max' is no longer with us, but this is his best remembered piece along with Orkney Wedding And Sunrise, a standard at the BBC Proms. Like the magical evocations of traditional folk music in Japanese animation films, Farewell to Stromness inspires a sense of space and passing time.
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RECOMMENDED BY NATAN
Best of Bach
Hans-Günter Heumann (Ed.)
It wasn't all that long ago that I associated Johann Sebastian Bach with the older, more esteemed members of society; but how wrong I was. Bach truly is for everyone. Beyond the musos awed at his groundbreaking contributions to the Western canon, there's something universal in his music; whether it's the playful inventiveness of his Musical Offering ('Crab Canon', 'Canon per Tonos'), or the sheer magnificence of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor which, incidentally, is to be performed at this year's BBC Proms.
So, my pick this month is the Heumann-arranged Best of Bach for piano, a wonderful collection of Bach's greatest works, including his Prelude and Fugue in D minor, the Christmas Oratorio, and the Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D minor.
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