Prokofiev's 'Theme from the Apprentice' :) Was filmed at Steinway Hall in London for Channel 4. Catch the video of me playing it here: http://www.channel4.com/jamesrhodes

Prokofiev Dance of the Knights

Bach, out of his mind with grief after the sudden death of his wife (not to mention his siblings, parents and half of his 21 kids), wrote this piece for solo violin. Busoni later arranged it for piano.
Recorded live and unedited.
(Performed by James Rhodes)

J S Bach Arr. F Busoni Chaconne In D Minor

Busoni's transcription of Bach's organ (stop smirking at the back) adagio from the Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C. Offensively crunchy & modern chords towards the end...
Heartbroken bastard.

Bach-Busoni Adagio From BWV 564

Schumann's love letter to his wife-to-be. Lovely little musical quote from the Ave Maria at the end - her favourite piece.  Romantic bastard...

Schumann/Liszt Widmung (Dedication)

Arguably Chopin's greatest composition. If you can offer a description using words you're much smarter than I am...

Amazon UK

Chopin Ballade No 4 In F Minor Op 52

The last movement of Beethoven's immortal 30th piano sonata (played by me).

Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 30 In E Major, Op. 109  final movement

Angry, angular, aggressive, all the As. Bach owning the upside down fugue :)

Partita No. 6 In E Minor, BWV 830  Gigue (James Rhodes, piano)

Balakirev's transcription for solo piano of the slow movement of Chopin's 1st Piano Concerto. Chopin wrote it when he was still a teenager. Precocious bastard.

Chopin (arr. Balakirev) Piano Concerto No. 1 In E Minor, Op. 11  Romanza

The Scherzo from Beethoven's E flat sonata. Cheeky little thing :)

Beethoven Piano Sonata in E flat, Scherzo

My take on Chopin's saddest little prelude.  Two and a half minutes of ache.


Chopin Prelude No. 4 In E Minor, Op. 28

Ravel's stupidly beautiful Pavane for a Dead Princess. He wrote it in 1899, this is my interpretation of it 115 years later.

iTunes UK. Feed me!

Ravel Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte

Grieg meets Jimi Hendrix in this slightly bonkers transcription. Live recording. 

Grieg  In The Hall Of The Mountain King

LVB's weirdly underplayed Op.90 sonata in E minor. Here's the second movement played by me. Gentle, bi-polar, inward-looking, darker than it first appears...

Beethoven Piano Sonata OP 90, 2nd movement

My performance of Alkan's offensively difficult opening movement from his Grande Sonate, depicting someone in his 20s (on crack?). Alkan was the only pianist Liszt was scared to play in front of. Can't imagine why...

Alkan Grande Sonate, Op. 33, 'Les Quatre Âges'  I. Vingt Ans

Bach doing his thing. Notice the 2nd half (1'20) starts with an inversion of the opening theme. Bach just riffing away with delight :)

(for those asking, it's played by me as are all of my tracks on SoundCloud)

Bach French Suite No. 5: Gigue

1st two movements of Bach's amazing 1st Partita. Written

Bach Partita 1 II. Allemande

Bach Partita 1 I. Prelude

Chopin's insane, angry, beautiful 2nd scherzo. He weighted 88lbs soaking wet but having heard and played this I wouldn't argue with him...

Buy @ iTunes UK

Chopin Scherzo No. 2

Me playing Rachmaninov's mind-ravaged, bleak and totally fucked study. Too many notes, too many thoughts.
Played live and unedited.

Rachmaninov Etude Tableau in E flat minor

Bouncy, magnificent piano transcription of Bach's HUGE organ fugue. Baroque and roll...
<sorry>

Bach-Busoni Fugue In C Major, BWV 564

Chopin, as always, making pain beautiful.
IMO the most perfect of his 21 nocturnes.

Chopin Nocturne In C Minor Opus 48/1

Chopin making the piano keys all dirty with awesome.


Performed by James Rhodes (obvs).

Chopin Ballade No. 3 In A - Flat Major, Op. 47

Me playing the opening movement of Beethoven's Pastoral sonata. LVB walking through nature, wrestling his demons, being all immortal... Hope you like.

Beethoven Piano Sonata In D Major, Op. 28 - 'Pastoral'  I. Allegro

The final movement of Beethoven's Waldstein sonata - the French call it the Dawn Sonata (they're romantic like that) as the opening to this movement symbolises the sun coming up together with all the awesome potential a new day holds. Or something like that.
Live performance.

Beethoven Sonata in C Major, Op. 53  'Waldstein'   III. Rondo

First attempt at a new piece I've been playing around with. One take, no editing, slightly dodgy upright piano. So don't be a dick about the odd fluffed note/shitty sound quality :)
Mikhail Pletnev's genius transcription for solo piano of Sleeping Beauty. What a melody...


Tchaikovsky/Pletnev Adagio from The Sleeping Beauty

Brilliant, if stupidly difficult, gigue from Bach's 1st Partita. Hands crossing everywhere all over the keyboard like an angry fly on meth...

Bach Partita No. 1: Gigue

Puccini's most exquisite aria in a quite funky transcription. Crazy romantic :)

O Mio Babbino Caro, Puccini arr. Mikhashoff

Bach most famous prelude. For a reason...
Just wrote a book that shows *anyone* how to play this within 6 weeks. What a great thing to do...

Bach: Prelude in C major

Chopin's rather mental study in C minor. This from a supposedly asexual, sickly, man-child of a composer...

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