Transcriptions
Main title music from Star Wars, John Williams
Coronation Mass, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Imperial March from Star Wars, John Williams
Piano Concerto no. 5, "Emperor" (orchestra transcribed for second piano), Ludwig van Beethoven
Air on the G string, Johann Sebastian Bach
Pomp and Circumstance March no. 1, Edward Elgar
The Blue Danube, Johann Strauss Jr.
Symphony no. 9 (fourth movement), Ludwig van Beethoven
The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Paul Dukas
New World Symphony, Antonín Dvořák
1812 Overture, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Williams-Nacar: Main title music from Star Wars
Originally posted May 4th, 2022, following the Imperial March the previous year. I can't remember when I first watched any of the Star Wars films - I was well into my teens - but I immediately started improvising piano arrangements of the soundtrack, which have evolved considerably over the years. Prior to posting I've only ever played my Star Wars transcriptions for small groups of friends at college, usually during breaks in the middle of musical theater rehearsals.
In 2021, prior to posting any of my Star Wars transcriptions, I contacted B.M.I. as well as the different publishing entities who control the rights to the Star Wars music, and requested permission to do this. They each informed me that they would not object, provided that this video is strictly for non-commercial purposes, which it is, and that I yield to them whatever this video generates in the way of ad revenue. I claim no ownership of Star Wars or its music; this piano transcription and this recording are a labor of love.
This video is NOT Creative Commons licensed. Do not copy any part of this video in any way, shape, or form, or Darth Vader will have you frozen in carbonite.
Mozart-Nacar: Coronation Mass
In December 2021 I presented a program of my own piano arrangements of orchestral/choral works, finishing with Mozart's complete Coronation Mass. (This piece of Mozart's was the last piece on the program of the very first orchestral concert I ever went to, when I was six years old, and it remains a personal favorite.) This video was taken from the livestream of the third performance on December 19th, at the Music Mansion in Providence.
Here is an earlier recording of just the first two movements, from a December 2014 performance at the RISD Museum.
Williams-Nacar: Imperial March from Star Wars
Originally posted May 4th, 2021. The standard disclaimer applies: this video is strictly for non-commercial purposes, and I claim no ownership of Star Wars or its music; this piano transcription and this recording are a labor of love.
This video is NOT Creative Commons licensed. Do not copy any part of this video in any way, shape, or form, or Darth Vader will have you frozen in carbonite.
Sibelius-Nacar: Finlandia
One of the greatest hymns of freedom ever written. I never really liked Sibelius' own piano arrangement, so I wrote my own. I sat on this for a few years because I couldn't figure out how to fit it into a piano recital, and then ended up recording it at home and posting it on December 6th, 2020, Finland's 103rd Independence Day. (Before you ask, I don't have any Finnish blood in me that I know of, I just think it's a great piece.)
Note that Finlandia is still under copyright throughout the E.U. and some other places.
Bach-Nacar: Air on the G string
Actually, that's not Bach's title. Some dude named August Wilhelmj took the "Air" from Bach's Orchestral Suite no. 3 and rearranged it so that the melody would be played (in a different key and register) entirely on the G string of a solo violin. For whatever reason the name that Wilhelmj gave his arrangement ended up sticking to Bach's original composition, and nowadays most people just refer to the piece in any arrangement as "Air on the G string". I wrote this piano transcription some time before college and used it as an encore on a few occasions.
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.
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.
The score may be found at IMSLP under "Arrangements and Transcriptions".
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. For reasons that continue to elude me this has turned out to be my most popular video ever.
The score may be found at IMSLP under "Arrangements and Transcriptions".