Sonata Secrets

An conversation between Henrik Kilhamn and Andrew Kierszenbaum about Andrew's piano music, his work on the the Netflix animated series Arcane (based on League of Legends), different musical genres, artistic influences, interpretation, engraving and more. Henrik played three piano pieces during a live stream in August 2026; excerpts from that stream are intervowen in the video. Video on Youtube...

This is really two episodes in one: First a thorough analysis of the basic material of Hisaishi's modern waltz classic "Merry-Go-Round of Life" and how the harmony gives life to a continuous motion with all the right colors. And second, a friendly reading of Animenz' virtuosic piano arrangement to see what textures he conjures up! Video: https://youtu.be/Iv8vMTgw3QQ

Chopin shows his masterly touch of the waltz as piano piece in Op. 42: rich textures and imaginative connections in the form that makes it all come together so beautifully. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/MtRZvAey-4s

Elfrida Andrée (1841-1929) was an organist and composer in my home town Gothenburg, Sweden. Here are three lovely tone pictures for piano, Op. 4, I'm happy to present on the channel! Video: https://youtu.be/npLr5rupoTI

We continue with the calm and magical Largo from Chopin's 3rd piano sonata - a lingering Cantilena provides the frame for an even more intimate deeper dream of the E major middle section. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/2QG7UvThA44

Henrik Kilhamn unpacks the dense musical matter that makes up the 1st movement of Chopin's 3rd Sonata: heavy marching mixed with ethereal melodies in perfect pianistic balance. Video: https://youtu.be/i9T9I9UHKXI

Debussy wrote a Nocturne in his younger period, a beautiful contribution to the genre with lyrical melodies and intriguing harmonic modulations. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/dHJdBDgd7UU

Pianist Henrik Kilhamn goes through Brahms Intermezzo in E major, no. 6 from Op. 116, with discussions of meter dispacement, structural reconfiguration and emotional transformation throughout the piece. Video: https://youtu.be/Xjlvl5b4ayo

Pianist Henrik Kilhamn looks at Yiruma's famous "River Flows In You", a tender but catchy instrumental pop song, associated with the Twilight franchise but not actually used in the movie. Video: https://youtu.be/OqgmQEBC75M

Joe Hisaishi is known for his scores to Studio Ghibli films, like this spacious theme from Spirited Away. It features quartal harmonies with a slightly eerie vibe to start with, but settles after a while into a perfect lounge piece. There are a few different official versions with Hisiashi himself, and in this video we see where they differ. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/_tR...

Grieg summons an army of trolls, who apparently become dwarfs in English, in this highly effective piano piece! With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/y9fPd3zOYPQ

Dario Marionelli composed the score to the 2005 film Pride & Prejudice, and the opening track Dawn is a nice piano piece in its own right that captures the air of classy salons. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/AsgXmgnpcGI

We look closely at the details of this colorful creation and find typical Debussy devices everywhere: pentatonic and whole-tone vibes, extended dominants, sharp contrasts, and even some polytonality! VIdeo: https://youtu.be/jEfo70SY4BM

Another gem from Grieg's Lyric pieces Op. 12, known as either "Elfin dance" or "Fairy dance". The Scandinavian elves are actually more like fairies or sprites than fantasy elves, and this music captures their short but energetic dance show succinctly! Video: https://youtu.be/6rEWZVMIC3k

The opening music of the film Forrest Gump (1994) is a lovely piano tune in almost total syncopation and with graceful lightness. In this video we look closer at the musical material. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/NFtNL85r0Fc

Rachmaninoff took Kreisler's beloved Liebesleid for violin and turned it into a virtuosic piano showpiece full of crunchy chromaticism and awkward chords :) With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/EAKBxLgu560

We look closer at Yann Tiersen's (first) waltz for Amélie to see how he crafts four rounds of beautiful piano textures based on the same chords. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/-jQSSoEygBE

Yann Tiersen wrote one of the most memorable pianistic scores for the French film "Amélie" in 2001. Using only simple means of carefully crafted melodic ideas over repeated textures makes this Comptine a modern, minimalist classic. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/M41GA-rxkHQ

The Sugar Plum Fairy is sneaking around in Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker with the help of celeste bells and staccato chords, but it all works fine to play on a piano too after the composer's own arrangement. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/X-J7eP-RLMM

Revered as one of the most powerful and difficult etudes of the romantic repertoire, Scriabin's in D-sharp minor is impressively cohesive, with every phrase leading seamlessly over to the next over vast arpeggios, bass pedal points and poignant harmonic moves. Analysis with pianist Henrik Kilhamn. (Apologies for the audio quality - somehow my external audio setup didn't record the analysis part so...

No. 6 is Debussy's first book of Preludes is called "Des pas sur la neige" or "Footsteps in the Snow", and paints a poetic picture with repeating rhythms and colorful chords, all the time while looking for a way forward. It's hard to put this type of evocative art into exact words, but we can nevertheless look closer at the musical material to see a bit more of what's going on. With pianist Henrik...

Edward Elgar wrote his famous "Salut d'Amour" as an engagement present to his fiancée Alice Caroline Robert. The original conception of the music was probably for violin and piano, but that didn't stop Elgar from writing a version for piano solo: a beautiful song without words and a great encore. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/JDJdgQ3G-o4

My take on the newly discovered Chopin (?) Waltz in A minor (Morgan Library, 2024) Video: https://youtu.be/BhIyT79Y_CI

This is one of the most interesting piano sonatas of the early 20th century. Scriabin pushes the boundaries both in musical expression, harmonic coherence and structural integration in this amazing work, so full of life and creative spirit. It's also nice to be able to do a substantial analysis play-through when I have the music in my hands, since I've just recorded it for my upcoming solo album S...

This is a great piece for beginners who have started to play separately with the hands. Robert Schumann wrote the whole "Album for the Young" Op. 68 for his three daughters to learn piano properly, and still to this day it's a great educational resource for getting started with a romantic conception of piano playing. Henrik Kilhamn takes you through the short piece in this video. Update dec 2024:...