RobertCunninghamsMusic

Performing Frühling (German for "Spring") by Gerald Wilhelm Braden on March 22 for the Phoenix Piano Club, which we hosted that afternoon. Braden is a contemporary composer who was born in Vienna but came to the United States as a teenager. He feels a deep connection with the classical and early Romantic traditions of his Austrian homeland, and his music, like my own, is tonal and relatively traditional. Prior to this Piano Club performance, I had recorded Frühling in late February and made two slightly different videos from that performance. One of them can now be viewed on my channel (RobertCunninghamsMusic), and the other on Braden's own channel, which is rather large (31K subscribers).

LINKS:
Frühling on my channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdpLkjvcOT0
Frühling on Braden's channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEw1yPJbDlA

The soundtrack from my November 8 recording of Chopin's Nocturne in E Minor (Op. 72, No. 1) has now been added to SoundCloud, where you can listen to it or download it in a high-quality .wav format. Chopin wrote this beautiful nocturne when he was only about 16, but it was not published until after his death.

Chopin, Nocturne in E Minor, Op. 72, No. 1 Frédéric Chopin's Nocturne in E Minor, Op. 72, No. 1. Recorded by Robert Cunningham on November 8, 2025. See also: Robert Cunningham's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/RobertCunninghamsMu

On March 1 we hosted the Sunday Classics Club East's monthly concert. The program was opened by pianist Stuart Foster, playing works by de Falla and Chopin. The second segment featured sopranos Cherice Graham and Myra Lin, who were accompanied by Stuart on the piano. I performed the closing segment, beginning with the Andante from Bach's Italian Concerto. I then proceeded to Anton Rubinstein's Melody in F, in Leopold Godowsky's version with the extra embellishments. I concluded with the piece Frühling ("Spring" in German) by contemporary composer Gerald Wilhelm Braden.

Not only had I performed this music in another concert a month earlier, but I had also recorded all three pieces about a week earlier, so they were very comfortably in my fingers. The video of Frühling is already on my RobertCunninghamsMusic YouTube channel, and the other videos will be coming soon. :)

In 2013-2016 I recorded all of my Nine Preludes for Piano Solo, one prelude at a time. But this set of nine preludes was originally conceived as an artistic whole, with certain symmetries across the set and with a unifing key scheme. In fact, when I first starting performing these preludes in concerts decades ago, I played all nine in order. April's VIDEO OF THE MONTH collects these preludes in order and presents them with the score. This video is particularly useful for illuminating the key scheme of the set: The tonal center starts at E-flat for Prelude No. 1, then ascends two whole steps, descends a half step, ascends two whole steps, descends a half step, and so on until the pattern returns to E-flat in Prelude No. 9. The odd-numbered preludes are in minor and the even-numbered ones are in major, with the exception of Prelude No. 9, which is in major mode to contrast with the opening prelude which shares the same tonal center. In this video, the pattern is made clear by a graphic that is displayed just before the start of each prelude, showing how it fits into the overall scheme.

There are also other symmetries that can be observed when the set is heard as a whole, as described in this blog article: https://robertcunninghamsmusic.com/structure-of-the-nine-preludes/.

Nine Preludes for Piano Solo (complete, with score) by Robert Cunningham The complete Nine Preludes for Piano Solo, with score, recorded by composer Robert Cunningham over 2013-2016. Includes visuals illustrating the key scheme.T...

Spring officially arrived a few days ago, and I am pleased to announce that my recent recording of Frühling ("Spring"), a piano piece by Gerald Wilhelm Braden, has now been uploaded to my YouTube channel.

Braden, who was born in Vienna before coming to the United States as a teenager, feels a close kinship to the classical and early Romantic traditions of his Austrian homeland. His compositions (like my own) are tonal and relatively traditional. He has received multiple first place awards in international composition competitions, and his orchestral music in particular has become popular in Europe.

If you enjoy new classical works like this one, I invite you to visit the composer's channel (Gerald Wilhelm Braden / Composer) as well as my own (RobertCunninghamsMusic).

Gerald Wilhelm Braden, Frühling (Spring), performed by Robert Cunningham Gerald Wilhelm Braden's Frühling ("Spring"). Recorded by Robert Cunningham on February 22, 2026. Braden is a contemporary composer who was born in Vienna b...

On the weekend of February 21-22, I recorded my interpretations of three great solos from the pianist's repertoire. On Saturday, I first sat down to my freshly-tuned Bösendorfer and performed the second movement from J. S. Bach's Italian Concerto. (The Italian Concerto, despite its title, is written for a solo keyboard instrument.) I have played the Italian Concerto various times ever since my early teenage years. The outer movements are energetic and a bit ostentatious, but over time my favorite movement has become this rhapsodic Andante, described by some as the "jewel" of the work.

On Sunday, I recorded a piece by Gerald Wilhelm Braden, a Vienna-born composer who came to the United States as a teenager. Braden feels a deep kinship with the classical and early Romantic traditions of his native Austria, and his compositions (like my own) are tonal and relatively traditional. He has received multiple first place awards in international composition competitions, and his orchestral music in particular has become popular in Europe. I recorded his piano composition Frühling ("Spring" in German), for which he had sent me the score about a year ago.

Also on Sunday, I recorded the Melody in F by the great Russian composer-pianist Anton Rubinstein. I first became enchanted by this piece as a child, when I heard it in an arrangement for cello and piano. After I grew older, I learned that Rubinstein had originally written it for piano solo, so I resolved to learn it someday. I used the edition by Leopold Godowsky, who adds some pleasing embellishments not in Rubinstein's original score.

I will be uploading the videos from these recording sessions to YouTube over the next three months, beginning with Frühling on March 25, which is close to the vernal equinox (March 20). I have developed two videos from the Frühling recording, one of which is customized to my channel (https://www.youtube.com/) and the other to the composer's channel (https://www.youtube.com/). Braden uploaded the latter video just a couple of days ago, so you can get a sneak preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEw1yPJbDlA. :)

The soundtracks from these three recordings will also be coming to my SoundCloud site ("lateRomantic") over the months ahead.

I am pleased to announce that a score video of the premiere recording of my Hymn to the Night is now on YouTube. I composed this setting of Longfellow's poem for SATB chorus with piano accompaniment in 1984. A performance of the work was scheduled at that time, but that concert was cancelled due to a power outage brought on by a storm. Finally, on September 28 of last year, this music was recorded and also performed for a live audience by the Vineville (GA) United Methodist Church Chancel Choir, directed by Cannon McClain, with myself at the piano. In this new video, you can follow along with the score as you listen to that performance. If you enjoy Romantic works like this one, I invite you to subscribe to my channel! 🙂

Hymn to the Night (with score) by Robert Cunningham, words by Longfellow Robert Cunningham's Hymn to the Night, presented with the score. Based on the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, set for SATB chorus with piano accompanime...

At the Sunday Classics Club West concert on February 15 in Glendale, AZ, where I performed the last 20 minutes of the concert. I began with the Andante from Bach's Italian Concerto. I have been playing that concerto off and on ever since I was about 13 or 14, and over the years my favorite part has come to be this elegant, rhapsodic slow movement. After the Bach, I proceeded to Anton Rubinstein's Melody in F, for which I've been using the edition by Leopold Godowsky, which includes some embellishments not in Rubinstein's original score.

I concluded with a piece by the American but Vienna-born composer Gerald Wilhelm Braden. Braden feels a deep connection with the classical and early Romantic traditions of his Austrian homeland, including Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert (collectively often referred to as the First Viennese School). His music, like my own, is tonal and fairly traditional. His works have recently taken first place in a large number of international composition competitions, and his orchestral music in particular is popular in Europe. Last year he sent me the score to one of his piano creations, titled Frühling ("Spring" in German). I began work on it in November, and this was my first public performance of it.

As I'll discuss in a future post, I subsequently recorded all three of these works in recording sessions. In particular, I plan to upload a video recording of Frühling to YouTube close to the vernal equinox. :)

Happy Birthday to the great composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin! Chopin was born on March 1, 1810, and our March VIDEO OF THE MONTH is this recording of his Prelude in B Minor (Op. 28, No. 6), which I made during the pandemic on May 1, 2020. This elegiac prelude was one of two that were played at Chopin's funeral. Although I have taught it to students and its technical demands are not great, it requires Romantic sensitivity and a poetic imagination.

Chopin, Prelude in B Minor, performed by Robert Cunningham Frédéric Chopin's Prelude in B Minor, Op. 28, No. 6. Recorded by Robert Cunningham on May 1, 2020.See also:Robert Cunningham's SoundCloud: https://soundclou...

I am pleased to announce that the soundtrack from my November 8 recording of Edward MacDowell's "To a Wild Rose" is now on SoundCloud, where you can listen to it or download it in a high-quality .wav format. MacDowell (1860-1908) was an American composer-pianist of the late Romantic period. He had a custom of composing short pieces early in the morning and then tossing them in the fireplace. In this case, apparently, the piece landed outside the fireplace and was later rescued by his wife. "To a Wild Rose" eventually became the opening movement of his Woodland Sketches (Op. 51), and the short, simple, and beautiful melody became quite popular. It was even adapted into a song by Elvis Presley. :)

MacDowell, To a Wild Rose (Op. 51, No. 1) Edward MacDowell's "To a Wild Rose," from Woodland Sketches, Op. 51, No. 1. Recorded by Robert Cunningham on November 8, 2025. See also: Robert Cunningham's YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/Rober