The Nocturne songbook is the companion sheet music book to Brad Jacobsen's 2021 album by the same name. There are ten pieces in the book and eleven on the recording, but the 11th piece is an orchestrated version of the title track, so all of the pieces from the album are included. The name "nocturne" means "night song" and all of the music has to do with evening and night time. Peaceful and very graceful, the music is as soothing and calming to play as it is to listen to on the recording. Beautifully transcribed by John Zechiel and proofed by Brad Jacobsen and me, these pieces would be excellent teaching and recital pieces for advancing piano students of any age as well as wonderfully expressive pieces for your own playing enjoyment.

The songbook is available as a PDF download as well as a spiral-bound book from Brad's website. The book cover is an enlargement of the album cover and the physical book is spiral-bound. The notation is roomy, very easy to read, and printed on a bright white paper. A few of the pieces have more complicated key signatures (see below), but the music is not difficult to play. I would place it at an upper-intermediate to early-advanced playing level. Pedaling and metronome settings are included along with plenty of dynamics. I really love playing this music and highly recommend the book. Both versions are available from www.BradJacobsenMusic.com.

The titles of the pieces, the keys they are in, and the number of pages are:

Nocturne - Key of G# minor (5 sharps) - 5 pages
Nightfall Reverie - Key of B minor (2 sharps) - 4 pages
Evening Star, Morning Star - Key of G (1 sharp) - 3 pages
Dark Moon (Moonlight Sonata) - Key of C# minor (4 sharps)/ B minor (2 sharps)/ F# minor (3 sharps) - 5 pages
Midnight Walk - Key of D# minor (6 sharps) - 3 pages
Before the Dawn - Key of A (3 sharps) - 5 pages
Moonlit Waltz (The Restless Ones) - Key of Gb (6 flats) - 5 pages
Acquainted with the Night - Key of Bb minor (5 flats) - 5 pages
Gaelic Lullaby - Key of C# minor (4 sharps) - 3 pages
Cradle Song (Brahms' Lullaby) - Key of Eb (3 flats)/ Gb (6 flats) - 5 pages