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Listen to Greg's performances, recordings, and compositions.
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Your Guide to Listening to the Music Player:
Anderson & Roe Piano Duo: Reimagine
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Short excerpts from Greg's CD release, "On Wings of Song." Read more about all tracks from the CD on the "On Wings of Song" pages. Included are purchasing information, complete program notes, considerations for listening, and a special feature on "Ondine."
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Composer: Maurice Ravel
Piece: "Ondine" from Gaspard de la nuit (or Devil of the Night)
Read Greg's racy and provocative thoughts on the work on the "Ondine" page. The poem on which the piece is based is included in the program notes.
Composer: Maurice Ravel
Piece: "Scarbo" (the Gremlin) from Gaspard de la nuit (or Devil of the Night)
Scarbo is the terrifying monster from your childhood, as real to you then as terrorists are today. The recording is from Greg's CD, "On Wings of Song." The poem on which the piece is based is included in the program notes to the CD.
Composer: Grieg
Piece: "Air" from the Holberg Suite
Grieg’s “Air” is such an intimate and personal work that I hesitate to comment. Discover what it means to you. Maybe it’s something simple, or heartfelt, something deeply human, or an untold truth.
Composer: Liszt
Piece: Reminiscence of Norma
Included here is only a portion of the epic climax from Liszt's fantasy on Bellini's opera entitled "Norma." The work is an impressive virtuoso feast set to gorgeous operatic melodies.
Composer: Strauss, arr. Godowsky
Piece: Standchen
A beautiful song transcription for piano solo, recorded live in performance.
Short excerpts from the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo CD/DVD release, "Reimagine." Read more about all tracks from the CD on the "Reimagine" pages. Included are purchasing information, complete program notes, and considerations for listening.
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Composer: Greg Anderson (based on music by Saint-Saëns)
Piece: Dance macabre: remix for two pianos
No matter one's station in life, the dance of death unites us all. Can we, the living, dance with the same unbridled revelry as these white skeletons who pass through the gloom?
Composer: Astor Piazzolla, arr. Greg Anderson
Piece: Libertango for four hands at one piano
An experiment in music composed exclusively for one-piano/four-hand performance. Watch the music video on the Video Page!
Composer: Greg Anderson
Piece: The Cat's Fugue for two pianos
According to eighteenth-century legend, Domenico Scarlatti received a flash of inspiration after a cat tiptoes across the royal harpsichord at the Spanish Court. He composed a fugue, and for the theme he used the succession of discordant pitches produced by Miss Pussy's paws. This is Greg's joyous romp over the keyboard keys using the very same theme. Read Greg's comical essay about Scarlatti's original Cat's Fugue here.
Composer: Greg Anderson/Louis Daquin
Piece: The Cuckoo in Sussex for two pianos
This is Daquin's "The Cuckoo" (performed by amateur pianists around the world) like you've never heard it before; Greg has transplanted the bird from its original setting in 1735 to a new environment of dreamy timelessness.
Deep in the woods, the cuckoos call to one another. What are they saying? Their simple song seems to be tinged with a sense of nostalgia. Perhaps this is why the cuckoo's call is often used to designate the passing of time.
Composer: Bach, arr. Anderson
Piece: "Erbarme Dich" from St. Matthew Passion
Performers: the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo
“Erbarme Dich” is a spiritual lament originally set to the words, “Have mercy, my God, for my tears’ sake. Look hither, heart and eyes weep bitterly before Thee.”
The simple desire to perform this work of haunting beauty and emotional power inspired me to transcribe it for two pianos.
The Rite of Spring: Augurs of Spring
Composer: Stravinsky
Piece: "The Augurs of Spring" from The Rite of Spring (arr. for two pianos by Stravinsky)
These heart-pounding chords convey the unrest that pervades this seminal composition, the unrest that preceded WWI when it was composed, and the unrest that resonates in our current times.
The Rite of Spring: Ritual of the Two Rival Tribes
Composer: Stravinsky
Piece: "Ritual of the Two Rival Tribes" from The Rite of Spring (arr. for two pianos by Stravinsky)
This is hard-core, visceral, physical and thunderous music that represents the most primal states of being.
Who doesn't love a good piano concerto, with its struggle between a single pianist and a complete orchestra? All excerpts are performed by Greg, live in performance.
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Saint-Saens Concerto No. 2 (1)
Composer: Saint-Saens
Piece: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22 - Andante Sostenuto
This is one of those dramatic openings that perks your ears for the entire piece to come - in this case, another 23 minutes.
Saint-Saens Concerto No. 2 (2)
Composer: Saint-Saens
Piece: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22 - Scherzando
The Scherzando provides quite the contrast to the storm of the first movement (the previous track). It appears that the sun has come out!
Prokofiev 2nd Concerto (Cadenza)
Composer: Prokofiev
Piece: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16 (not to be confused with the Saint-Saens concerto) - Cadenza from the 1st movement
Listen to this track if you want to hear Greg play a lot of notes. Believe it or not, only one piano was used in the making of this audio file!
The most physically taxing and emotionally draining five minutes of music ever composed.
Composer: Beethoven
Piece: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 - Allegro moderato (mid-cadenza to end)
My favorite piece of music, ever.
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Composer: Bach/Petri
Piece: "Sheep May Safely Graze" from Cantata No. 208
Not included on the Music Player. Instead, watch and listen on the video page. It's the antithesis to "The Devil's Staircase."
The Maiden and the Nightingale
Composer: Granados
Piece: "The Maiden and the Nightingale" from Goyescas
An excerpt from one of classical music's best love songs.
Composer: Bach
Piece: Sarabande from English Suite No. 6 in D minor
The "Sarabande" is a slower dance typically performed in the middle of a baroque dance suite. This one happens to be remarkably beautiful.
Composer: Lullly, arr. by Godowsky
Piece: Sarabande from English Suite No. 6 in D minor
This is another sarabande by a different composer; it's very different, but equally beautiful.
All recordings in the "Anderson plays Anderson" section are from live performances. Greg's music works best performed for live audiences. More information is included on the composition pages.
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Star Wars Fantasy: Four Impressions for Two pianos
Composer: Anderson
Piece: Star Wars Fantasy: Four Impressions for Two Pianos
Not included on the andersonpiano.com music player, but you can listen to (and watch) performances of the piece on the video page!
Fantasia on "Dives and Lazarus"
Composer: Anderson
Piece: Fantasia on "Dives and Lazarus": Tone Poem for Five Pianos
Featured on The 5 Browns' best-selling album, "Browns in Blue," this work is composed for five pianos and is based on the Mormon hymn "If you could hie to Kolob." Learn more about this work and Greg's arrangements on the same album here.
Etude No 1 - Asimov vs. Huxley
Composer: Anderson
Piece: Piano Etude No. 1, "Asimov vs. Huxley"
A serialist work dictated by the binary system.
Composer: Anderson
Piece: Piano Variations - Theme, Variations 1 - 3, 7, and 8
The first half of the piece is an homage to various piano composers.
Piano Variations (Var. 14 - 18)
Composer: Anderson
Piece: Piano Variations - Variations 14 - 18
The second half of the piece is fully in Greg's compositional language.
In variations 14 - 18, one can hear the theme transform from its technological source to a source of beauty. Variation 18 is my favorite.
For more, see the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo: Reimagine section of this audio page.
Don't miss...
...the polling booths. Your opinion has been requested! Would you be more excited to listen to J.S. Bach or his son, J.C. Bach? Would you rather listen to piano music in a warehouse or a home?
