Prelude Op.23 No.4
Rachmaninoff
A lesser-known prelude by Rachmaninoff.
It has a fragmented, disorganized, dreamlike rhythm, and the polyphony gives it distinct voice cues, form several melodies of very different colors that are intertwined.
Sheet music PDF
Piano Concerto No.2 (theme of Mov.3)
Rachmaninoff
Hundred of turns taken, finally find a light. The melody soars in the sky, breaking through the dense clouds and finally seeing the sun.
Paganini Theme Rhapsody - Variation 18
Rachmaninoff
The best melody Rachmaninoff ever create. The most touching part is the magnificent, rippling strings in the second half.
I extracted the string section from the version performed by Valentina and the London Symphony Orchestra, adapted it to my rhythm and added it to my video.
Piano Concerto No.2 (theme of Mov.1)
Rachmaninoff
This piece is my introduction piece to Rachmaninoff. The first time I heard it I was just shocked, how could there be a melody that is so majestic and yet so warm and gentle!
Dedicate to the year 2022, which twisted and turned, but finally sees the light of dawn.
Sheet music PDF
Liebestraum No.3
Liszt
"A dream of love."
The dream starts with a sweet and moving theme, gradually becomes passionate and intoxicating, and finally vanished into a broken illusion.
Between the three chapters, there are two classic Liszt-style showy cadenza that are very challenging.
Sheet music PDF
Clair de Lune
Debussy
Debussy's most popular work.
In this piece, the composer weakens the melody and contours of the music, trying to describe a vague feeling with large and hazy chords.
The challenge of playing this piece is voicing, that is, to create sometimes muddy and sometimes clear sound effects with different touches of keys.
Sheet music PDF
Träumerei "Kinderszenen" No.7
Schumann
This is the most popular piece of Kinderszenen. You can hear multiple voices intertwining.
The tone constantly shifting between bright and warm, as if elusive real and unreal. It's as if you're seeing a childhood scene that seems close at hand, yet dreamlike and unreal.
Nocturne in C-sharp Minor Op.Posth.
Chopin
This piece is a posthumous work by Chopin.
It was not classified as a "nocturne" when Chopin composed it, so I think it should not be played too softly and lyrically, but rather in a harsh and poignant mood.
This piece was written in 1831, when the revolution broke out in Poland and Chopin was living in Western Europe, missing his homeland and unable to return to it.
I try to express a contradictory emotion: inwardly, sorrow and suffering surged, but the outward appearance is extremely restrained and restrained.
Sheet music PDF
Andante Spianato
Chopin
This piece was taken as the overture to the Grande Polonaise.
Such a calm and soothing melody.
It reminds me of a cool summer night decades ago, when the heat of the earth had not completely subsided. At that moment I was lying on a concrete ping-pong table, watching the Galaxy slowly flowing in the sky, while the cool breeze blowing past my ears.
It's been years since I remembered this scene, untill this piece of music brings me back to that one wonderful moment.
Sheet music PDF
Nocturne in E-flat Major Op.9 No.2
Chopin
It's a Chopin's early piece, and also the most popular nocturne.
As a romantic period piece, it certainly needs to have some rubato, but I don't like to do too much rubato in this piece to make it feel gaudy and cheesy. I would choose a smooth and restrained style to prevent the nocturne from being over-emoted.
Sheet music PDF
Etude Op.10 No.3 "Tristesse"
Chopin
For me, the difficulty of this piece lies in the distribution of strength in the right hand: the fourth and fifth fingers need to play a bright melody while the thumb and index finger need to play a dull middle voice. The fast jumping sixths in the middle of the piece is also a very challenging passage(which I could not play well).
Likewise, I don't like to make this nocturne too soft and beautiful. This piece is supposed to be dark and melancholy.
Sheet music PDF
Prelude Op.28 No.4
Chopin
This is a very short piece, probably Chopin's darkest and saddest work.
The descending chromatic scale in the first section is like a languishing patient who is gasping in pain. As he is about to embrace his inevitable fate, a turnaround seems to occur, but moments later, hope again seems to be dashed, and the piece then falls silent.
What a dark and sad piece it is!