This version of the Triumphal March from Verdi's Aida is quite appalling. The
harmonies are plain, the middle part with the transposition by a third is the
scourge of popular music, and the brass instrumentation emphasizes all these
shortcomings quite effectively.

While the arranger Maxwell Eckstein manages to fill three pages with this, the
repetitions become obvious to the transcriber and it is shown here on just one
page.

It was transcribed from "LET US HAVE MUSIC for PIANO" Vol.2, Arranged and
Edited by MAXWELL ECKSTEIN, (all their caps) Carl Fischer Inc., New York, U.S.A,
ALLANS MUSIC AUSTRALIA LIMITED, Imperial Edition No.883 .
It contains howlers like the Theme from Haydn's Surprise Symphony, the Theme
from Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, an extremely bland arrangement of Handel's
Largo, and worst of all, something titled "Theme from Tschaikowsky's Piano
Concerto No.1"; Maxwell Eckstein should be shot just for this.

Alas, my score reading skills don't include actually hearing the piece, that's
why I transcribe them with MOZART, and only then becomes the poor arrangement
obvious. So I ended up transcribing the Triumphal March from Aida and La Paloma
by S. Yradier. The difference in quality can be seen by comparing Eckstein's
Barcarolle from Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann with the one in AMSCO's The
Library Of Piano Classics., which is also included in this collection.

(With apologies) Enjoy!

Michael Bednarek
<mb@nrhs.health.nsw.gov.au>
http://www.geocities.com/mcmbednarek/