Other Videos
- Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Bach-Busoni
- Fairy Tale, Op. 51 no. 3, Medtner
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Dukas-Nacar
- Barcarolle, Chopin
- La Valse, Ravel
- French Suite no. 5 (complete), Bach
- Symphony no. 6 (1st movement), Beethoven-Liszt
- Fünf Klavierstücke, R. Strauss
- Marche Militaire, Schubert-Tausig
Fall 2010 (Community MusicWorks Bach Marathon)
- Partita no. 4 - Allemande, Courante, Bach
- Sonata no. 28 (1st and 2nd movements), Beethoven
- Valse-Caprice no. 7, Schubert-Liszt
- Etude, Op. 2 no. 1, Scriabin
- Carmen Fantasie, Bizet-Horowitz
Fall 2018
Johann Sebastian Bach:
Goldberg Variations
Compilation from live recordings
Halloween 2016
Live recording
Johann Sebastian Bach/Ferruccio Busoni:
Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Nikolai Medtner:
Fairy Tale, Op. 51 no. 3
Paul Dukas/Benjamin Nacar:
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
See Transcriptions page
Frederic Chopin: Barcarolle
Maurice Ravel: La Valse
Christmastime 2014
S. Rachmaninoff: Polka de W. R.
Live recording
Bach-Busoni: Toccata, Adagio and Fugue
Live recording
Toccata
Adagio
Fugue
Spring 2014
J. S. Bach: French Suite no. 5, complete
Live recording
Beethoven-Liszt: Symphony no. 6 ("Pastoral"), 1st movement
Live recording
R. Strauss: Fünf Klavierstücke, Op. 3
Live recording
Schubert-Tausig: Marche Militaire
Live recording
Summer 2013
Beethoven-Liszt: Symphony no. 5, 1st movement
Studio recording
Fall 2010 (Community MusicWorks Bach Marathon)
J. S. Bach: French Suite no. 5: Gigue
Live recording
Bach-Busoni: Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Live recording
More from Fall 2010
J. S. Bach: Partita no. 4: Allemande, Courante
Live recording
L. van Beethoven: Sonata no. 28: movements 1 and 2
Live recording
Schubert-Liszt: Valse-Caprice no. 7
Live recording
A. Scriabin: Etude, Op. 2 no. 1
Live recording
Bizet-Horowitz: Carmen Fantasie
Live recording
The Blue Danube, Johann Strauss Jr.
Symphony no. 9 (fourth movement), Ludwig van Beethoven
The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Paul Dukas
Coronation Mass (Kyrie, Gloria), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
New World Symphony, Antonín Dvořák
1812 Overture, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Strauss-Nacar: The Blue Danube
This is a (highly embellished) solo piano arrangement of Johann Strauss Jr.'s popular waltz medley "On the Beautiful Blue Danube" which, thanks to the capriciousness of Stanley Kubrick, has become forever associated with gently rotating spaceships and space stations. I wrote this arrangement for the occasion of the 50-year anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and the first manned moon landing (July 20th, 1969), in commemoration of which I gave three piano recitals. Also on the program were Beethoven's "Moonlight" sonata, the F-minor Nocturne and the Barcarolle by Chopin, three different moon-themed pieces by Debussy, the Largo from Dvořák's New World Symphony, and the Sousa/Horowitz Stars and Stripes Forever. This recording was made at Brown's Cogut Institute on July 15th, 2019, the day after the last performance.
Beethoven-Liszt-Nacar: Symphony no. 9, movement IV
When writing his transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies, Liszt was highly doubtful whether the choral finale of the Ninth could ever be effectively rendered on the piano, and his publisher had to goad him into finishing it at all. The task of translating the majesty and power of the "Ode to Joy" movement into pianistic terms is not, I think, an intractable problem. However, the arrangement of the Finale of the Ninth that Liszt eventually produced has always seemed to me less convincing than the other movements of the Ninth (or the other eight Beethoven symphonies), which led me to undertake the revision presented here. Many passages I have kept unaltered, to others I have added extra notes, and some I have rewritten entirely, which I rather think is in keeping with Liszt's own take-other-composers'-material-and-run-with-it approach.
This recording was made at Brown's Cogut Institute for the Humanities, following three performances of this movement on December 10th, 2018 (at the Cogut Institute) and December 15th and 16th, 2018 (at the RISD Museum), the last performance falling on Beethoven's 248th birthday. Preceding it on the program were Mozart's Sonata in C major, K. 330, and the Schubert-Liszt Valse-Caprice no. 7 from Soirees de Vienne.
Dukas-Nacar: The Sorcerer's Apprentice
On October 31st, 2016 I gave a Halloween concert at Brown's Cogut Center for the Humanities. The preceeding day I also gave a semi-Halloween-themed Children's Concert at the Providence Public Library. Both events featured my arrangement of Paul Dukas' tone poem The Sorcerer's Apprentice. This is the live recording from the Cogut performance.
Mozart-Nacar: Coronation Mass
(Kyrie, Gloria)
In December 2014 I presented a Christmastime program at the RISD Museum and at Brown's Cogut Center for the Humanities, which opened with my transcription of the first two movements of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Coronation Mass. This is a live recording from the last performance at RISD.
Liszt-Nacar: Les Préludes
In November 2014 I gave a few concerts at the RISD Museum and at Brown's Cogut Center for the Humanities, The program featured Bach's Partita no. 6, Chopin's Ballades nos. 3 and 4, and my transcription of Liszt's Les Préludes. In between performances I made this "studio" recording of the Liszt at the Cogut Center.
Dvořák-Nacar: Symphony no. 9 in E minor, op. 95, "From the New World"
In June/July 2014 I performed my own transcription of Antonín Dvořák's New World Symphony at the RISD Museum and at Brown's Cogut Center for the Humanities; also on the program was Vladimir Horowitz's transcription of John Philip Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever". Following those concerts I made a "studio" recording of the Dvořák at the Cogut Center.
Playlist with all four movements
I. Adagio; Allegro molto
II. Largo
III. Scherzo: Molto vivace
IV. Allegro con fuoco
Tchaikovsky-Nacar: 1812 Overture
In July 2013 I gave a few concerts at the RISD Museum and at Brown's Cogut Center for the Humanities, featuring Liszt's transcription of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (all movements) and my own transcription of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. Following those concerts I made a "studio" recording of the Tchaikovsky, as well as the first movement of the Beethoven (see Other Videos), at the Cogut Center. As of two years later this has turned out to be my most popular video ever.
These works are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License.