track from Twoset virtual world tour performance

Twoset Violin - Shostakovich Cadenza from Violin Concerto no.1 in A minor op.77

Child of Light - Woods Darker than Night

This piece originates from Robert Schumann's 'Album für die Jugend' - a collection of 43 short works that were composed for his three daughters. The opus 68 'Album für die Jugend' is, unlike 'Kinderszenen', meant to be played by children, although the collection is divided in two parts - and the second is marked 'Für Erwachsenere', from no. 19, 'Kleine Romanze', onwards. 

'Wilder Reiter', or - as it is more commonly referred to, 'The Wild Horseman', is the eight piece of the collection. It is a short and easy, albeit wonderful piece due to its evocative, enthralling composition. It is essentially a lesson in staccato phrasing (one can really imagine the horseman trotting about), and teaches the pianist how to lead the cantabile with both hands, while accompanying with the other. The first section, where the melody is led by the right hand, is repeated. What follows is an intermezzo, if you will, where the left hand leads the melody - an inverse variation on the first section. The piece concludes with a third repetition of the first section. 

I am fascinated by the images that the piece conjures. Is the horseman clad in medieval armour, riding past you in a jousting roundabout? In measures 5 through 8 I deliberately retained some intensity in favour of conveying how the horseman has galloped past the listener (who is of course, stationary), and is making another pass. The second section, measures 9 through 16, seem to indicate the 'wild' in the horseman. Is he perhaps struggling to contain the horse, who has run amok? But then the first section is repeated, and the controlled, frivolous atmosphere reassures and consoles the listener. 

illustration: Géricault - 'Head of White Horse', ca. 1810, Musée du Louvre, Paris

R. Schumann - Wilder Reiter (The Wild Horseman) op. 68 no. 8 in A minor

Christine Zerafa performing Chopin's Nocturne op 9 no 3 in the Chopin Festival at the Royal Northern College of Music (2010)

Chopin - Nocturne op 9 no 3 in B major

Recorded live at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon on February 6, 7 & 8, 2016

Carlos Kalmar, conductor
Women of Portland State University Chamber Choir

Gustav Holst: The Planets

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, arranged for piano duet (four hands, one piano) by Eduard Langer

Played on my trusty Yamaha P-80. Mixed using Garageband.

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (piano duet)

The Rite Of Spring

Dance Macabre (For Violin  Piano) - Camille Saint - Saëns (Sheets)

PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3
Pianistic pyrotechnics, cutting wit and moments of tenderness; Prokofiev came to Chicago to premiere it.

PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3

This track is from the album Christmas On Copper Street and is available for purchase on CD Baby here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/copperstreetbrassquintet

The Nutcracker Suite: Spanish Dance (Chocolate)

Copper Street Brass