you had me with the first notes...this is so beautiful

I. Moderato Cantabile Molto Espressivo

Chopin Étude Op. 10, No. 5

Debussy Préludes Book 1, No. 8, La Fille Aux Cheveux De Lin

Concerto per pianoforte n. 2 - Il grande illusionista
per pianoforte e grande orchestra
   I - ...si svogle un dramma
   II - ...un'elegia assurda
   III - ...una cadenza surreale
   IV - ...un gran finale: introduzione - una passacaglia imperiosa

This piano concerto derived from a commission for piano and toy piano.  I intended to write that piece first and then use elements for a larger scale work.  I drafted some sketches, but then fantasy took hold, and I imagined a sort of conjuror of surreal images and situations, a character of dreams that could create the extraordinary.  I suppose this all harks back to the surreal paintings my mother painted, and the sort of visual imagery I have always loved.  There is no story, and there is no intention to create specific images.  Rather the music alludes to fantasy.  But it is steeped in tradition too.  The first movement is in a sort of sonata form; the second 'elegy' is a theme and variations; the cadenza uses material from what has come and what will come and the final movement is a passacaglia.  Certain piano concertos helped inspire specific moments: Beethoven's Emperor, Tchaikovsky's 1st, Ravel's G major, Prokofiev's 2nd and Bartok's 3rd.

Now the task is to compose the original commission...

© Paul Max Edlin 2024

The image is by Salvador Dalí (Creative Commons)

Concerto per pianoforte n. 2 - Il grande illusionista

Because I am pretending that spring is a gentle thing.  Actually it can be quite violent--but I'm in charge of this music so it's gentle. :)

Thank you to David Dunham for his relentless help in mastering my tracks
Listen to more of his beautiful guitar music here: @david-dunhamuser589535203

Bloom

Sonatas Op.9 No.71

Happy Anniversary to my One and Only Love <3 <3  

I would like to thank Alan Hamilton @almal-4: for his generosity in mastering this track for me and answering all my Cubase questions!  Sincere thanks to you, Alan.  If you have not discovered Alan's superb jazz fusion let me encourage you to visit his profile and start listening.

"I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" is a 1932 song first released by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.  It is one of my all time favorites to play.  It seems to be a perfect template for all manner of styles.

Gettin' Sentimental Over You

Kintsugi is an art form that embodies the philosophy of wabi-sabi which values the beauty of imperfection and transience. Kintsugi also serves as a metaphor for embracing our flaws and imperfections in life seeing them as a source of strength and beauty and finding resilience in the face of adversity. 

Kintsugi

This track is my very personal take at the Koan "Hear the Clap of your Hand". If you can not relate the music with that title, I can fully relate to you :-). Just wait for the lyrics version that will be up in a few weeks time to make things clearer. (yes, this is my sneaky strategy to tweak you into revisiting my channel)

Compositionwise, the track is roughly split into two equal parts. The first part introduces its cinematic theme in the very beginning, taking it thereafter up several times with slightly different accentuations and rhythms which gives it a fresh feel with different highlighted nuances in each repetition. Several interludes contribute to the cinematic feeling. 

The second part, starting @1.53 starts by a more Jazzy version of the main theme. However, from 2.20 onwards, it is very restricted in its harmonies - only two harmonies are used from thereon until the end, C major and C# major. The tension arises purely from the rhythmic changes (such as the shift from 4/4 to 3/4 @3.17 and back), climaxing at the end.

The Clap of One Hand (Piano Miniature)

Every night at 2:13 a.m., the old carousel at the edge of town begins to turn—slowly, deliberately—though no one is ever seen near it. The fairground was shut down decades ago, fenced off and forgotten, but locals swear they’ve seen the horses rising and falling in the dark, their chipped paint gleaming under moonlight.

There’s no power. No wind. Just movement.

Some say a child vanished there on the fair’s final night. Others whisper that the carousel was built with parts from somewhere… not quite right. It doesn’t thrash or scream. It moves gently, like it remembers how to bring joy—but has no one left to share it with.

It’s not violent. It’s not loud. But it spins, always at 2:13, like it’s waiting for someone to come back.


26/06/2025

The Carousel

I had the honour today of standing on the steps (without permission) of the Royal Academy of Music in London. I once saw a beautiful photograph of Sir Edward Elgar, standing beside a VERY young looking Baron Yehudi Menuhin on the steps outside the Royal Academy. So I breezed in...as though I had the right (which I did not)....and took a photograph of myself, standing on the very same steps....where Elgar and Menuhin once stood, side by side. I sent it to my wife. I was grinning like a Cheshire cat. She told me I looked handsome, however, she is my wife. This piece describes the sheer joy of that moment. As I stood, megalith still, between Elgar and Menuhin.

Nocturne in Bb major Op.33

Paul Maurice Roche, Composer

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