For the last 6 months or more now, I’ve been listening to (and, indeed, watching) The Piano Guys on YouTube. Their music consists of generally classical modern arrangements of (or compositions inspired by) known and respected music, but it is always coupled with stunning visuals – sometimes amazing landscapes, sometimes amusing performers, always good camera work. Indeed, a small screen or poor speakers struggle to adequately reproduce the experience that can be had from their videos. Below are some highlights, spanning the range of videos they create – it was difficult to reduce their videos down to a handful. There are far more to see!

Pirates of the Caribbean – Piano Solo by Jarrod Radnich
This is a particularly early video and the first one that I stumbled across back when I was looking for Pirates music on YouTube.

The Cello Song – Steven Sharp Nelson
A good bit of fun with one man playing 8 cellos.

Bring Him Home – Les Misérables – Jon Schmidt & Steven Sharp Nelson
A moving performance in a peaceful and beautiful location.

Rolling in the Deep – Adele – Amanda Scott, Jon Schmidt & Steven Sharp Nelson
My favourite song by Adele, given The Piano Guys treatment.

Paradise (Peponi) African Style (Piano/Cello) Cover – Coldplay – Alex Boye, Jon Schmidt & Steven Sharp Nelson
An inspiring African-flavoured performance featuring some electric cello.

Beethoven’s 5th and Secrets – OneRepublic – Tiffany Alvord, American Heritage Lyceum Philharmonic & Steven Sharp Nelson
The power of an entire orchestra is finally coupled with The Piano Guys and a singer.

On a related note, though shifting the focus towards the visual aspect rather than musical, I recently encountered the two videos below – the first a moving, interactive version of one of my favourite paintings by Vincent van Gogh, and the second a compilation of timelapse images from Yosemite National Park.

Starry Night (interactive animation)

Yosemite HD

If you’re a fan of Hans Zimmer, here’s a tip for another composer to look out for: Lorne Balfe. I was recently looking through Zimmer’s discography and noticed Balfe cropping up as co-composer or co-producer in a number of recent scores, notably recently Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. His brief biography details further work with Zimmer stretching back into the previous decade including producing the original Sherlock Holmes, Inception and The Dark Knight and providing additional music for Pirates II, Pirates III, The Simpsons Movie, Angels & Demons and Frost/Nixon.

Personally, I like all of the soundtracks listed above – I have omitted a few from the full lists (notably, I have not heard some that I have omitted), but I find that there’s an interesting correlation between the recent soundtracks by Zimmer that I particularly enjoy and those that Lorne Balfe has been involved with. I shall definitely keep an eye out for music by Zimmer and Balfe going forward.

I leave you with two tracks from Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which I enjoy.

The Red Book

The End?