Edward Elgar wrote his famous "Salut d'Amour" as an engagement present to his fiancée Alice Caroline Robert. The original conception of the music was probably for violin and piano, but that didn't stop Elgar from writing a version for piano solo: a beautiful song without words and a great encore. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be…

My take on the newly discovered Chopin (?) Waltz in A minor (Morgan Library, 2024) Video: https://youtu.be/BhIyT79Y_CI

This is one of the most interesting piano sonatas of the early 20th century. Scriabin pushes the boundaries both in musical expression, harmonic coherence and structural integration in this amazing work, so full of life and creative spirit. It's also nice to be able to do a substantial analysis play-through when I have the music in my hands, since …

This is a great piece for beginners who have started to play separately with the hands. Robert Schumann wrote the whole "Album for the Young" Op. 68 for his three daughters to learn piano properly, and still to this day it's a great educational resource for getting started with a romantic conception of piano playing. Henrik Kilhamn takes you throug…

This poignant prelude from Chopin's set of Op. 28 is one page and about 2,5 minutes long. That's almost the length of a modern pop song, but it still contains more interesting musical ideas than most in that genre. It's a great piece for intermediate players, and here I give some playing tips before going through the piece again to inspect those id…

Henrik Kilhamn presents this lesser known Funeral March from a romantic piano sonata, by a composer who admired Chopin but went on to write his own name in music history as well. His first sonata, Op. 6, ends with this very solemn but gripping statement after major struggles of previous movements, marking it a tragedy of great proportion. Can you g…

In this video we'll look up the beautiful musical number "Married Life" from the Disney/Pixar movie Up (2009), scored by Michael Giacchino. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/yDglADz8GlA Sheet Music (My arrangement): https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1551158/Product.aspx…

Pianist Henrik Kilhamn points out five things about this iconic theme song written by Danny Elfman. Video: https://youtu.be/n8Jo48PtRsU Sheet music (My arrangement): https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1550901/Product.aspx

This is a real showstopper of a piano piece, composed by a young and ambitious Schubert in 1822. The seed of much of the work's material comes from the song "The Wanderer" he had written earlier; he used a melody for variations in the slow second movement and kept the same rhythm for the other fast movements too! Maybe there it feels more like runn…

This is a valuable major Liszt work from his first book of "Years of Pilgrimage". It's quite thoughtful and introverted music, dealing with psychological matter from pioneer romantic figure Senancour's novel Obermann about a young man goes out in nature to seek answers to life's hard questions. But over the span of this 14 mins long musical essay, …

Scriabin's epic sonata no. 3 is one of only two with a more classical approach of four movements, before he ventured further into more integrated forms. However, you can already here savour everything that makes Scriabin great - soaring melodies, expansive textures over the whole piano, tightly knit counterpoint with individual voices and ever-unfo…

Rachmaninoff's suites for two pianos are quite unique in the classical repertoire - a musical language from the height of the romantic period but breaking new ground by utilizing two separate keyboards and pianists for some extraordinary textures! Pianist Henrik Kilhamn guides you through the composition with its four movements, with presentations …

Enrique Granados is one of the most prominent Spanish composers that used the national cultural heritage in his art music to open up new ways of writing for piano in early 20th century. Here we look at one of his most famous pieces, from the suite "Goyescas", inspired by the great art by Goya. Video: https://youtu.be/T4IfCvYlzlE…

The Polonaise provided Chopin a ground for writing grand pieces in dance form. One of the most emblematic, the "Military" Polonaise feels more like a victorious parade rather than conflict and war. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/x-R6flahwqI Thumbnail image: Fanfare 'Korps Nationale Reserve' - Eksjö (Zweden) 2022 This file is l…

Chopin's collection of Mazurkas is an important manifestation of his Polish identity, comprising a range of musical elements from the traditional folk dance. In this video we'll look closer at the somewhat peculiar and haunting Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17 no. 4. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/znXaTwHMvj4…

Henrik Kilhamn looks into Chopin's famous Prelude in C minor, a miniature piece just like a poem, that rings with heavy tolls of funeral bells. Video: https://youtu.be/cgqAH4lig4k

Henrik Kilhamn explores Chopin's first, embematic Nocturne in B-flat minor.Video: https://youtu.be/j5sOlWPyAvg Easy Arangement: https://sonatasecrets.gumroad.com/l/chopin-nocturne-9-1

Alongside Einaudi and Michael Nyman, Glass' music aims to carry the torch of instrumental music into the modern musical world of a steady pulse and coherent harmony. His minimalist style uses repetition of potent musical ideas as a foundational device for setting up hypnotic musical soundscapes. In this video we take a deeper look at the Opening mo…

J. S. Bach proves his compositional genius in the Goldberg Variations. A bass line with implied harmony of 32 bars provides the basis on which Bach creates the world in a piece of music, over 30 variations following the initial Aria. In this video we go through this bass material in depth to see how its harmonic movement enables the piano to sing s…

Béla Bartók's six Romanian Folk Dances introduces exciting rhythms, modes and harmonic setups that we are not that used to, coming from a classical perspective. They are very short and make for great intermediate pieces, and this is a long lecture going into details on all six with pianist Henrik Kilhamn.Video: https://youtu.be/GwtCWrx6_SI…

Come along when we explore the harmonic journey of Bach's Prelude no. 2 in C minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier. Since there are very few markings other than the notes, pianists different choices create different interpretations of the same music. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn.Video: https://youtu.be/6sQHahneCGQ…

Scriabin takes the standard Waltz form and makes it his own with the help of floating polyrhythms, tender melodies, dramatic surges and exploratory harmony in this marvellous composition. The piece was a request by my Patreon sponsor D. E. Frez. With Henrik Kilhamn, pianist. Video: https://youtu.be/IYaEsjTmEvo…

A real gem to celebrate the 150 year anniversary of the great Rachmaninoff. This is his way of basically writing a Nocturne, albeit under the wider-encompassing title of a Prelude. But compared to Chopin and the first generation of romantics, Rachmaninoff utlizises the modern piano to its full extent with breathing swellings of sound and aching chr…

Beethoven's two sonatas in Op. 49 are usually called "Leichte Sonaten" or "Easy Sonatas", and are perfect pieces for early intermediate students who want to become more familiar in the classical style. In this video we check out the music of the 1st movement in Op. 49 no. 2 in G major, with a lot of consideration of the governing Sonata form struct…

One of Schubert's rare short pieces and true gem: the Moment Musical no. 3 in the set of six, published the last year of his life. The is a great example of his personal musicalstyle that wanders freely through different tonal territories. Video: https://youtu.be/GBUQ7Qdpltg

Op. 62 no. 6 of Mendelssohn's Lieder Ohne Worte has the accompanying title "Frühlingslied" or "Spring Song," and the popularity of the music is testament to its evocative power of summoning those spring feelings! In this video we take a closer look at the playful melody that's constantly undergirded by quick and soft arpeggios traded between the ha…

Felix Mendelssohn wrote songs for piano: Lieder Ohne Worte = Songs Without Words. The very first one of all the volumes (Op. 19 no. 1) is a perfect piece for practicing sound balance in the right hand, and the music is just fabulous. You need this kind of sound balance/hand weight for playing these works - Beethoven Moonlight Sonata mvt I - Schuber…

No. 4 of the six movements of "Children's Corner" is the toughest to play, but paints a beautiful winter landscape with exciting energies in the intricate textures. With Henrik Kilhamn, piano. Video: https://youtu.be/3hQQhjspo24

Debussy spins up the perfect patterns for getting lost in a pleasant daydream. He was actually not a big fan of the piece himself, it was written when he was younger and had not yet reached the modern maturity we also associate with his name. But as piano music, the Rêverie is simply a wonderful delight! Video: https://youtu.be/fLGtT23LefE…

The middle Intermezzo in the Op. 117 set is more restless than the outer ones, but still shows much nostalgia and introspection. Here we taker a proper look at the original and pianistic textures that makes this piece flow so seductively. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/rf5vdR4fqys…

Brahms Intermezzo in Eb major, Op. 117 no. 1 is a kind of sweet lullaby but with a disturbingly dark middle section. What is that about? The gorgeous music draws you in with its lush harmonies and rich textures, and tells a compelling but unclear story. With Henrik Kilhamn, piano. Video: https://youtu.be/95nEeUymyaY…

In this episode we'll see how Tchaikovsky summons the exotic arabian dancers in the Nutcracker ballet, using modal mixture, oriental ornaments and meandering structural segments over a rhythmic ostinato. With your analysis guide Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/9xoCT93XfjY

Debussy paints a musical depiction of dead leaves with dissonant harmonies and eerie and fragmented lines in his "Feuilles mortes," Prelude no. 2 from the second volume of preludes. It shows a lot of his typical features such as sequential rather than functional harmony, block chords, and a maximal use of different piano registers. With Henrik Kilh…

Tchaikovsky made the piano arrangement to his "Nutcracker" ballet music himself. The March is one of his most known tunes that immediately summons the Christmas spirit with its high energy marching features. Any ballet production tells the story of toy soldiers coming to life, but in this video we look at the music only. Henrik Kilhamn, piano. Vide…

Faurés mature style explores the chromatic depths of counterpoint while retaining a radiant surface, and his 6th Nocturne in D flat major, Op. 63, is a great example that holds together three disparate ideas beautifully. This video is on the advanced side of analysis on the channel, e.g. some concepts are used freely in order to get more complex po…

Gabriel Fauré's Pavane is one of those pieces that just speaks directly to your heart with an air of nobility intact. The composition is a masterclass in coherent melodic structure and the use of coloring notes in harmony. Video: https://youtu.be/9ucfVYrbCDg

"Vogel als Prophet" (Bird as prophet) is a peculiar piece in Robert Schumann's Waldszenen suite Op. 82. On closer inspection we find the most prominent feature to be arpeggios leading to quite dissonant appoggiaturas. As often with Schumann, he strikes a balance between the playful and the profound. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu…

Chopin's 1st Ballade in G minor has a special place in the hearts of many pianists and piano lovers. It has many characters who all speak directly and poignantly, and Chopin lets them evolve organically within the Ballade. It's a story without any explicit drama, but with intense dramatic content nevertheless. And it's especially one chord that set…

The piece that starts Waldszenen (Forest scenes) is "Eintritt", an Entrance into the forest. The pleasant melody shifts between the hands but for some reason Schumann has written most of the piece like it's metrically offset within the 4/4 time signature. Video: https://youtu.be/s7OI-OcUVko

Schumann's "Waldszenen" (Forest scenes) op. 82 is a collection from his later period, invoking the forest in nine pastoral, cute and intruiging pieces. No. 3 "Einsame Blumen" or "Lonely Flowers" has all the best Schumann ingredients: rhythmic ambiguity, aching suspensions and creative counterpoint. Video: https://youtu.be/t3VaGEIGNTI…

Frühlingsrauschen, or Rustle of Spring, has impressed audiences since Christian Sinding composed it in 1896. The lightning-fast arpeggios in the right hand are actually not that difficult, but the piece still requires a high degree of rhythmic precision and position changes later on. It's a passionate celebration of spring-time energy, wonderfully …

This Nocturne poses some serious technical challenges! Once mastered, they give an impression of something light and playful (scherzando is marked in the score) and with so much elegance typical of the young Chopin. With Henrik Kilhamn, professional pianist. Video: https://youtu.be/0S5uRET-mzg

This is a fascinating example of how Rachmaninoff uses a short motif as a foundation for a composition, and spins an endless amount of colorful variations on it. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/AuJ2ksqjhrY

This poignant waltz was published in 1986 and attributed posthumously to Chopin, but it was discovered in 2012 to actually have been written by Chopin's contemporary Charles Mayer. However, he did such a good job to imitate a Chopinesque style (for example with chromatic suspensions) that he had the music world fooled for several decades. With pian…

In the middle of the set of 24 preludes in all different keys Op. 11, Scriabin limits himself to use only the diatonic notes of D-flat major in slowly moving melodic lines harmonized in thirds. Needless to say it's a great exercise for legato playing in the left hand, which has to play the thirds before the right hand enters with a soaring but trag…

This is one of my absolute favourite piano pieces. Brahms is such a master of knitting the musical material together tightly, and he does so in this Intermezzo over a nostalgic but forgiving backdrop. The middle section is a reminder of sorrow and pain, but in the end everything is all right. Henrik Kilhamn, piano. Video: https://youtu.be/bypALczDN…

This is one of Brahms' most famous melodies; it captures perfectly the elegant dancing of the Viennese ballrooms in a piano piece. Video: https://youtu.be/6sYxmVYHD30

Henrik Kilhamn takes a closer look at Liszt's famous Liebestraum no. 3. It's inspired by a poem by Ferdinand Freiligrath "Oh, love as long as long you may", celebrating love as a strong force in the world, and Liszt makes use of some spectacular things in the musical structure to get the message across. Video: https://youtu.be/U_AImOWal2Y…

Liszt's "Consolations" are a kind of musical prayer, and no. 3 is perhaps the most comforting of all with its Lento placido; resonating broken chords over a deep bass and a soaring melody. Playing, analysis and comments by pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/_QoShd8mKz8

This major Nocturne has all the typical features - long sweeping arpeggios in the left hand and a soaring melody on top - but it is also a duet of two voices that keep the dialogue alive throughout the piece. With pianist Henrik Kilham. Video: https://youtu.be/tc69rTem_qo