Lee Evans has done it again! This is yet another collection of lovely classical melodies carefully arranged (including fingering where it really counts) for solo piano and tastefully flavored with elements of jazz.Grieg’s harmonies, delightfully and surprisingly bold for his time (he died in 1907), are further enhanced here with tasteful upper extensions (ninths, elevenths and thirteenths) from jazz harmony that weren’t on Grieg’s tone palette.Some of these pieces, like Solveig’s Song from Peer Gynt by Grieg, are well known and delightfully recast here in a more modern harmonic setting. The added surprise for me in this collection was Evans’s marvelous arrangement of Reinhold Gliere’s Concerto for Coloratura Soprano and Orchestra, Op. 82, 1st Movement.Reinhold Gliere (1875-1956) was well known in the Russia of his day and was honored there as a “People’s Artist of the USSR.” For better or worse, he was most recognized during that era for his nationalistic, “politically correct” compositions, which often incorporated themes from provincial folk songs.But Gliere also taught at the Kiev and Moscow Conservatories: Prokofiev, Khachaturian, and American Songbook composer Vernon Duke (born Vladimir Duchelsky) all studied under Gliere.The Concerto for Coloratura Soprano and Orchestra is Gliere at his compositional best, and Lee Evans has done a marvelous job of combining and distilling the vocal line and orchestral accompaniment of the original into the uniquely delightful piano solo presented in this book.All of these arrangements are suitable for early intermediate to intermediate pianists of all ages. I played through them several times in the last few days, each time with greater enjoyment. What a great way to begin the new year, thanks to Lee Evans!