Variation 18 of Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini composed in 1934. Rachmaninoff said of this piece: "This one, is for my agent." as he sensed it would become a commercial hit. It's composed by playing upside down the original melody from Paganini. The original is like a piano concerto (solo piano vs orchestra) and I'm trying to do it on a single keyboard with sampled sounds.

The theme was used in the movie Somewhere in Time in 1980 starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.

The instrument is a Clavia Nord Stage 2 using a sampled Bösendorfer grand piano and sampled orchestra strings.

Transcription for solo piano by Hermene W. Eichhorn. Re-uploaded with new take on Jan 26, 2014.

Live video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgj3lVcaGT4

Video

Somewhere In Time: Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini, Variation 18

atmospheric piano + electronica

playing Barber, Beethoven, Chopin, Craig Armstrong, David Arnold & Michael Price, Ennio Morricone, Erik Satie, Handel, Harry Gregson-Williams & John Powell, John Ottman, John Williams, J.S. Bach, Kanye West, Leonard Cohen, Ludovico Einaudi, Max Richter, Michael Nyman, Michel Polnareff, Mike Oldfield, Mozart, Nino Rota, Philip Glass, Pink Floyd, Ravel, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Serge Gainsbourg, Vangelis, Vladimir Cosma, Yann Tiersen, Yiruma

Somewhere In Time: Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini, Variation 18

Piano in a Living Room