Eleven Piano Variations on Elgar's Violoncello Concerto's First Movement's Theme.mp3
This is my 3rd set of variations for solo piano. I composed it as my entry in the YC Fall competition. The theme is Elgar's Violoncello Concerto's (Op. 95), first movement's first theme.
I chose this theme because it was the first to come to my mind when I was thinking about what theme to choose. I chose it also because it is very memorable, reflective, and sad. I consider it to be one of the greatest themes ever composed.
I chose the piano as the instrument to compose for, because Elgar had already done a great job with the violoncello and strings in the treatment of this theme. So I decided to take the opposite approach and treat it with a keyboard instrument instead. I also had composed two of my previous sets of variations for piano. So the piano was a natural choice.
This is the link to the theme on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_Xg7JZcyIk&t=1m17s