Liebestraume No. 3 Concerto

Pianist Bill Uglow accompanied by Slovak Radio Symphony

Conducted by Kirk Trevor

Composed by Franz Liszt

Original arrangement © Bill Uglow. All Rights Reserved.

 “Liszt, as virtuoso pianist, was the first pop star in musical history. Composed in 1847, Liebestraume (Dreams of Love) is the most popular and enduring of his works.”

Warsaw Concerto

Pianist Bill Uglow accompanied by Slovak Radio Symphony Conducted by Kirk Trevor

Composed by Richard Addinsell

“Tells the story of love and passion during the 1939 Fall of Warsaw.”

On Golden Pond

Piano solo by Bill Uglow

Composed by Dave Grusin

Theme Song from the “On Golden Pond” Movie Soundtrack

“If you listen closely to the notes you can hear the haunting cries of a loon echoing across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula”

Portrait of my Love

(Bonus Track)

Vocal by Bill Uglow

“Made famous by British balladeer Matt Monro (1930-1985)”

The Story of Warsaw Concerto

By Richard Addinsell

Pianist Bill Uglow

With Slovak Radio Symphony

Conducted by Kirk Trevor

arsaw Concerto is in one man’s opinion, the most beautiful piano melody of all time. It is the love theme for the war movie, Dangerous Moonlight, a British film made in 1941. When it was made and released, England was being bombed by the Luftwaffe during World War II. In November 1940, Stefan Rodetsky is a patient with amnesia confined to a London hospital trying to regain his memory while playing the piano. As he plays the very difficult 20-minute piece, Warsaw Concerto, he suddenly begins to imagine himself at the keys of a grand piano in Warsaw, composing the song as his home is being bombed around him. He then recalls meeting a beautiful American reporter who was admiring him at the piano amidst the bombing. They have a lightening fast romance as the lady falls in love with the pianist during the beauty and the carnage of the moment.

Warsaw Concerto, composed by Richard Addinsell (1904-1977) in the grand, heroic style of Rachmaninoff, recounts not only the beauty of the Romantic Period of pianism, but the fiery darkness of the fall of Warsaw to the Nazis. As you listen to it, you will hear the bombs and the confusion and the passion of those nights in Warsaw.

I began playing the piano at age seven. As a military dependent, I took lessons all over the world. I was a rather unlikely pianist who would have quit if not for my mother. I remember her saying to me, “If I buy the piano for you to learn, you won’t be able to quit. It’s like school. You can’t quit school, right?” If I was reluctant, I also loved getting lost in the passion of the melodies of the romantic musical history of Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Liszt. I always had a dream of playing with an orchestra. Since I went to business school instead of Julliard, I was resigned that I would never have the opportunity to fulfill that dream. In 2004, I decided to realize the dream of playing with an orchestra.

I began a journey in the digital world which culminated in playing and recording Warsaw Concerto at the SonSongs Studios in Las Vegas to the accompaniment of one of the finest orchestras in the world, the Slovak Radio Symphony from Bratislava, conducted by Kirk Trevor. If you close your eyes while you listen to it, it will take you to Warsaw in 1939.

The Story of Liebestraume No. 3 Concerto

By Franz Liszt

Pianist Bill Uglow

With Slovak Radio Symphony

Conducted by Kirk Trevor

ranz Liszt said of the public performance, “It is the ennobling dream. The indescribably powerful enchantment that draws the thoughts and hearts of others to us, which causes people’s souls to shine with mutual enthusiasm.”

For students of the piano, for audiences, for anyone who enjoys a good read, the study of the piano virtuoso is utterly fascinating. Most serious musicians would agree that piano virtuosity is as close to perfection as one can hope to achieve in musical performance. Throughout the ages, only a few achieved it….

Though the piano as we know it today was invented in the late 1790’s, its cultural impact fell like rain upon Paris in the late 1830’s. That was the beginning of the Golden Era of the piano. Paris was the center of it all. Franz Liszt, the original rock star, the first stage performing virtuoso was there. He was the king of the piano. He had coffee with Chopin in the cafés on the streets of the Champs-Elysees. Piano schools sprang up everywhere starting with the Paris Conservatory in 1794, and then spread like wildfire throughout Europe. Rome’s Conservatory opened in 1808. Then Naples in 1808. Vienna in 1817. Prague and London in 1822. And the Moscow’s Conservatory in 1862, which I believe to be most important of them all.

Learning about world history through the prism of pianism provides an usual and entertaining perspective. In 1850, Carl Tausig, could perform the world’s entire library of piano literature composed up to that time. In 1896, Paderewski was so popular on at the piano that he was swept into Polish politics. Chopin was heralded as the pianist’s pianist; he composed the most beautiful piano music of all time. They called Sieveking the “Flying Dutchman” because his huge hands could spread across 14 keys. Simon Barere had a fatal heart attack during his performance at Carnegie Hall. Anton Rubinstein was described as the reincarnation of Beethoven. Mendelssohn had incredible improvisational skills. Rachmaninoff, my personal favorite, had the world’s most colossal technique; the ability to play very difficult music perfectly. Arturo Rubenstein continued to play until he was 90. If the Golden Era of the piano began in 1830, the 1920’s marked the end of the era with the popularization of the radio.

In 1847, Franz Liszt composed Liebestraume No. 3 to be a piano solo. It was never intended to be accompanied by an orchestra. For the first time ever, you will hear it performed here as a piano concerto; an original arrangement with the Slovak Radio Symphony from Bratislava, conducted by Kirk Trevor.