I recognize this piece, but can’t figure out what it’s from. Tried to use Shazam to identify it, but no luck. Anyone know where it took its inspiration from?
Also this one, from 1:44. I recognize it but can’t place it:
Nothing immediately jumps to me as those being from something else.
Compositionally they are very much variations on a piano sonata. The first in particular follows a lot of the keying, pace, and flourish of piano sonatas going all the way back to Beethoven. Listen to Moonlight Sonata for one of the most famous examples of that style to hear how the minor key, left hand pattern and right hand motion create a similar feel.
Maybe I’m wrong, and these are songs from something specific, but I think it is simply a stylistic similarity to standard sonatas going back centuries.
This one is Rachmaninoff’s Op. 3 no. 2 Prelude in C# minor.
Yep, the first one may just be series music composer Jeff Russo riffing on a piano sonata structure.
The second one (Lock and Key) is clearly Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in c-sharp minor:
As for the first, it seems newly-composed to be evocative of many piano sonatas, as CraigM suggests. The thing it sounds closes to, in my opinion, is Chopin’s Prelude in e minor:
I’d say the first one is more along the lines of a Romantic-period nocturne, like from Chopin or Field.
I don’t recognize the specific melody, though. Sounds like something from popular music set in that style.
Good call, I’m for a kids birthday party so didn’t spend much time listening to them.
And yeah the sound of Chopin fits. I was simply picking the first song of the form that came to mind due to a wife that would not appreciate me spending time contemplating that instead of decorating :)
It’s Chopinesque but it’s not Chopin. I’ve never heard that piece before.
You guys are brilliant. Now I need to find a full orchestral arrangement (not just piano score) of the Rachmaninov piece.
The Rachmaninoff prelude was written for solo piano. IMO it doesn’t sound better in any other form, nor does other idiomatic piano writing. But YMMV of course.
Here you go! Leopold Stokowski did a great orchestral arrangement. Still not as good as the solo piano original, but still worth a listen.
You’re awesome! Would like to find one that more closely resembles the Lock & Key arrangement. But loving all of this.
While I’m on the subject of Rachmaninoff, I have to recommend my absolute favorite work of his–his Prelude in B minor, Op. 32, No. 10.
And a brief anecdote about the piece by the wonderful Benno Moiseiwitcsch:
Here’s excerpt of Moiseiwitsch’s performance that immediately followed that clip:
Very cool. Thanks for posting those.
I have another one. I realize this is archetypal NiN style music but if this is another group and an actual song, I’d like to grab it.