Tuesday 16 December 2025
from “The Nutcracker Suite” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
This march is one of the most famous melodies of the ballet. The piece is simply called “March”, or “Marche” in French. However, instead of calling it, “The March from The Nutcracker”, most take the more direct route of saying, “The Nutcracker March”, or even “The March of the Nutcracker”.
Those vaguely familiar with the story of The Nutcracker may be surprised to learn that this is not actually a dance performed by the Nutcracker as he leads the toy soldiers to victory over the Mouse King. Instead, the march appears early in the first act, played during the lively party scene, which includes plenty of dancing, games and merriment. The cheerful rhythm of the piece helps to create a feeling of celebration among the holiday partygoers.
Monday 15 December 2025
Traditional Irish jig
The first appearance of this jig is found in Francis O'Neill's celebrated collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. O'Neill obtained the tune form Chicago police patrolman, piper and flute player John Ennis, originally from County Kildare, Ireland.
Sunday 14 December 2025
from “Thirty Easy and Progressive Studies”
This is étude No. 17 from Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Gariboldi's collection of 30 Etudes faciles et progressives.
Saturday 13 December 2025
from “20 Easy and Melodic Studies”
Today's piece is duet No. 6 from the first volume of Ernesto Köhler's Twenty Easy Melodic Progressive Studies.
Thanks to Bruno for contributing this piece!
Friday 12 December 2025
for flute and piano
Today we have a new contribution from our guest composer from the Netherlands, Paul Merkus. This piece was originally written in 1994 for solo piano, and has now been arranged for flute and piano.
The piece starts with an intro in the low register, followed by a second theme with Mozartian embellishments, accompanied by an Alberti bass.
After a quiet interlude (in two positions), the actual “LeapFrog” theme follows. Here, I have the image of a frog leaping from one leaf of water lily to another: “a frog that leaps,” which, through a pun, leads to the title “LeapFrog.”
Finally, this short piece ends with a buildup towards to final eight bars in maestoso style.
Thursday 11 December 2025
Traditional Irish jig
This single jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. The tune has been employed for the English country dance “Jack's Health” since at least the early 1970s. As a result, it is sometimes erroneously assumed to be an old English dance tune.
Wednesday 10 December 2025
from Köhler's “25 Romantic Studies”
This is the last étude from Ernesto Köhler's 25 Romantic Studies, Op. 66. It consists of a lively “Allegro vivo” in E major and a melancholic Andantino in A minor.
