A Brief Commentary on “My Favourite Things”:  Valse-Caprice for 2 pianos

For the past few years now, I have been writing short piano “showpieces” around Christmas time, and posting them to my YouTube channel. It started out in a rather silly fashion with the Capriccio festivo for 2 pianos, which is clearly a joke piece more than anything (although to my defence, it does have interesting manipulations of themes and textural ideas). In subsequent years, I wrote piano fugues mainly as challenging composition exercises to develop my craft. These pieces have been received well. However my skill as a composer has certainly increased since the festive Capriccio of 2010, and so this year’s offering is of a much higher quality. In particular, I hope that it can serve well as a concert item or an encore, without sacrificing too much of the humour and sense of fun, which is always a priority in my “novelty” works.

I didn’t have any good ideas for a piece based on Christmas carols this year, but coincidentally the year 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the Sound of Music film. Hence I focused my attention on the tune My Favourite Things and produced this Valse-Caprice for 2 pianos. Due to the more ambitious nature of the work, it has caused me more trouble than the fugues of previous years, and features more daring ideas and harmonies. However, I have also borrowed some humour from the earlier Capriccio festivo. In this new piece, you will also find some sneaky quotations of great classical composers (can you name them? and which works do I quote?), unexpected modulations, and of course, true to my training, contrapuntal shenanigans.

I must make it clear that I don’t play the piano at all, so why write so many works for the keyboard? Earlier this year, I finished my Three Concert Pieces for solo piano, a serious work to challenge the most advanced students and professional pianists. Obviously, I enjoy writing for the piano very much. Even if I don’t play it, I have now developed over the years a decent sense of what sounds good on the instrument — and what a tremendous instrument, when used properly! In fact, it is the piano’s ability to evoke the many colours of the orchestra that makes it both an exciting solo instrument as well as an ideal “sound laboratory” for any composer. I have tried to include some orchestral effects in my Valse too.

That’s all from me at this point, the rest is up to the listener. I hope you enjoy this piece!