Grieg summons an army of trolls, who apparently become dwarfs in English, in this highly effective piano piece! With pianist Henrik Kilhamn.

Video: https://youtu.be/y9fPd3zOYPQ

Dario Marionelli composed the score to the 2005 film Pride & Prejudice, and the opening track Dawn is a nice piano piece in its own right that captures the air of classy salons. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn.

Video: https://youtu.be/AsgXmgnpcGI

We look closely at the details of this colorful creation and find typical Debussy devices everywhere: pentatonic and whole-tone vibes, extended dominants, sharp contrasts, and even some polytonality!

VIdeo: https://youtu.be/jEfo70SY4BM

Another gem from Grieg's Lyric pieces Op. 12, known as either "Elfin dance" or "Fairy dance". The Scandinavian elves are actually more like fairies or sprites than fantasy elves, and this music captures their short but energetic dance show succinctly!

Video: https://youtu.be/6rEWZVMIC3k

The opening music of the film Forrest Gump (1994) is a lovely piano tune in almost total syncopation and with graceful lightness. In this video we look closer at the musical material. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn.

Video: https://youtu.be/NFtNL85r0Fc

Rachmaninoff took Kreisler's beloved Liebesleid for violin and turned it into a virtuosic piano showpiece full of crunchy chromaticism and awkward chords :) With pianist Henrik Kilhamn.Video: https://youtu.be/EAKBxLgu560

We look closer at Yann Tiersen's (first) waltz for Amélie to see how he crafts four rounds of beautiful piano textures based on the same chords. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn.

Video: https://youtu.be/-jQSSoEygBE

Yann Tiersen wrote one of the most memorable pianistic scores for the French film "Amélie" in 2001. Using only simple means of carefully crafted melodic ideas over repeated textures makes this Comptine a modern, minimalist classic. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn.

Video: https://youtu.be/M41GA-rxkHQ

The Sugar Plum Fairy is sneaking around in Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker with the help of celeste bells and staccato chords, but it all works fine to play on a piano too after the composer's own arrangement. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn.

Video: https://youtu.be/X-J7eP-RLMM

Revered as one of the most powerful and difficult etudes of the romantic repertoire, Scriabin's in D-sharp minor is impressively cohesive, with every phrase leading seamlessly over to the next over vast arpeggios, bass pedal points and poignant harmonic moves. Analysis with pianist Henrik Kilhamn.

(Apologies for the audio quality - somehow my external audio setup didn't record the analysis part so I had to use audio from the keyboard camera which isn't as good and harder to mix with its autolevels.)

Video: https://youtu.be/oxZhxC_xDPo