Name: Chopin Ballade No 2 in F Major, Opus 38 by Michael Henry Zimmerman
Duration: 6 min 53 s
Description: Chopin's second Ballade is at one moment eerily placid and another frighteningly catastrophic: imagine a quiet waterfront suddenly engulfed by a horrific storm. It eventually passes, leaving hope for renewal in the wake of its utter destruction and havoc.

Igor Stravinsky: 3 movements from Petrushka - 2 Chez Petrouchka

Hymn To Faith

I'm away from the piano at the moment, so I thought I'd share this with everybody...

Compositional sketch for a modern Pastoral Appassionata String Quintet.  Primary composition sometime in November 2013.  Work in progress.

Somebody asked if this is a "sad" song.  Here is my answer:

It is not a "human emotion" song.   It is more a divine/nature/universe  song.  It does not have human emotions like happy/sad.  It has only what is.  It has only pure beauty. Like a waterfall.  Or a mountain.  Or a star. A waterfall is not sad.  Or happy.  It only is. It is simply pure beauty.

Pastoral = of or referring to nature or the creator

Appassionata = with passion  (but in this case, it is not passion like between a man and woman.  it is more passion of the creator for his creation or created for his creator.)

It is more of a spiritual music.  This is what I will do more of later in life. Like these guys:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_minimalism

I aspire to follow in their footsteps one day.

Somebody asked about the plug-ins used:

Solo Bass, Cello, Viola, Violin 1, & Violin 2 from NI Kontact (standard set from Komplete) for this sketch.  Sometime later I will ideally record the real thing... (Or at least use more advanced string libraries.) 6 Instances of 2CAudio Breeze (which I am the developer of) are used here to make the Kontact Strings sound reasonably good. 

http://2caudio.com/products/breeze

The strings samples themselves are not that good.  The reverb is!  :)  That's the trick here.



Many new solo piano compositions to share with you all soon!  Happy New Year!

Andrew Souter -- Pastoral Appassionata For String Quintet (Sketch)

Francesco Tristano & The New Bach Players: Bach Concerto BWV 1055 - I. Allegro

Improv 2024-05-04 03

Grand Duo Concertant Op. 48 II. Andante con moto

Alone was recorded in December 2008 by Robert Ian Winstin and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra on the ERMMedia label, which ceased to exist following the untimely death of Maestro Winstin. The recording was set to be released on the Masterworks of the New Era series that was in its sixteenth volume at the time of Winstin’s death in 2010. After securing the recording masters from Susan Winstin, I was approached by PARMA Recordings with an offer to release the recording on their label. I am excited about the opportunity to work with PARMA on this, my first release with them.

Alone: Suite for Orchestra

Recorded August 8, 2012 by members of the Callithumpian Consort at Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT.

String Quartet No. 3: IV. Presto

This is an orchestral arrangement, I started right after my first string quartet in 2000. It is Beethoven's "Rondo a capriccio" or better known as "Rage Over a Lost Penny" / "Die Wuth über den verlornen Groschen" for solo piano. I had no time to finish it in 2000. But a month ago, I rediscovered it and sat down to finish it. This is the result. I hope you enjoy it. Any comments appreciated.
This is written for (2, 2, 2, +bass, 2 - 4, 2, 3, 1, timp, str).

The original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKXZeUOKVdo

"Rage Over a Lost Penny" (1798 Beethoven / 1828 Diabelli, arr. 2000, 2012)

Chopin's second Ballade is at one moment eerily placid and another frighteningly catastrophic: imagine a quiet waterfront suddenly engulfed by a horrific storm. It eventually passes, leaving hope for renewal in the wake of its utter destruction and havoc.

Chopin Ballade No 2 in F Major, Opus 38

Cello: Nil Kocamangil
Piano: Kira Ratner

F. Schubert, Arpeggione Sonata for Cello and Piano in a minor D.821, I. Allegro moderato

Michael Henry Zimmerman studied piano with Anne Koscielny, Raymond Hanson, Morton Estrin and Louis Nagel. He is an alumnus of Interlochen Arts Academy and Deerfield Academy, and a graduate of Hartt College of Music (Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance). He was fortunate to have been born to musically discerning parents who wisely encouraged him to pursue graduate studies and a career in business instead of the piano. When not studying classical music, he consults to Fortune 500 businesses on matters of Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing. To this day, his passion for great music survives even when his listeners do not.

Chopin Ballade No 2 in F Major, Opus 38

Michael Henry Zimmerman

Recent comments

Kian Varu

Rania Helali

Related tracks