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I watched Sophie's Choice last night, there is a wonderful scene early in the movie in which Nathan (Kevin Klein) and Sophie (Merill Streep) sit together at a piano and Nathan plays a piece while Sophie talks about her childhood. Its a classical piece and Nathan morphs it into Swannee River.

Can anyone identify the classical piece for me. I love it and would like to know what it is.

Thanks!

Ohhh. mhf, I can't help you but Sophie's Choice is such a difficult movie. [long exasperated sigh...] Someone in the coffee room recently asked about the most difficult decision you'd have to make. Sofie was faced with it. What horror.

If I find out anything about the piece you're asking about, I'll post it.

Surely there is a soundtrack CD?????

Nope, its not on the soundtrack. Most of the CD is original music by Marvin Hamlich. This particular passage is not on there!

This is indeed one of the most difficult films to watch, with such a horrific climax and a very disturbing lead character (brilliantly performed by Kevin Klein). This is a movie you won't ever forget, and combined with the fabulous (Oscar winning) performance by Merril Streep makes it one of my top 10.

Now if only someone could identify that piece for me!!

mhf:

You're absolutely sure this is not an original "classical" piece by Hamlich?

I believe it's Schumann's Kinderscenen (Scenes from childhood), Op. 15?, No.1, "Von fremden land und menchen" ("About foreign lands and people"). Besides the obvious symbolic significance of a piece with this title, it is in fact a piece many of us learn as children, so has that built-in nostalgia factor as well.

Then again, my memory could be totally faulty, but this is what I recall.

I just looked up the soundtrack online, and it contains Mendelssohn's Song Without Words Op. 30, No 1. So I guess I was completely wrong!

Don;t remember the piece, but the house they used is a few blocks from my house.

Yeah, that's useless bit of info for sure.

Its been a long time, but I believe it was Chopin, possibly a nocturne

I always liked that house.

Rugby between Church and Albermarle. If you want a tour of the neighborhood let me know. Stunning houses around there.

Aaron -- Bingo!! It is indeed from Schumann's Kinderscenen, From Foreign Lands and People.

I just purchased a Horowitz performance of this at Amazon!!

Thanks everyone!

The poignancy of the scene plus the Schumann just stuck in my head...when I didn't find it on the soundtrack, I thought I must have imagined it, it just seemed so right...and as it turns out, it was! Glad I could be of some help!

I hope this works. The link should take you to a printable copy of the score for Schumann work in question.

http://www.sheetmusicarchive.net/compositions_b/kinder15.pdf

I have no idea what the film is about. It sounds like it had a deep impact on those that have seen it. For that reason I decided to have a look at the piece of music in question.

Hi everyone,

Can someone identify the jazzy piece that Kevin Kline played right after Schumann's Kinderscenen (Scenes from childhood), No.1 in the movie 'Sophie's Choice'? As he started playing this piece, Meryl Streep referred to it as "Salami" (her character spoke with a polish accent, so I'm not sure I heard it correctly).

Much obliged,
Shawn

I was wondering the same thing about a scene in Schindler's List where this poor fellow is playing Bach like mad just when the Bad Guys are shooting up the Warsaw ghetto. He plays it like it's the last thing he will ever play in this world, which is it... Somebody said it was a Bach suite, but I can't find it and it's not on the audio CD soundtrack of the movie.

The audio CD of the soundtrack to Sophie's Choice is available on Amazon. Don't wanna hijack this thread...

Anybody recognize that thing from Schindler's...?

This may be common knowledge on the forums, but Kevin Kline was originally planning a career as a composer and concert pianist. I would imagine that it was he who was really playing the piece. I've read that he also did his own playing when he portrayed Cole Porter.

The piano piece the "poor fellow" (if that phrase can be used to describe that SS guy who finds the piano and then plays on it during the liquidation sequence!) is playing is the Prelude from Bach's English Suite No. 2 in a minor, BWV 807.

This reminds me of the time I walked into a sheet music store just after having seen "Sophie's Choice", asking the name of the piano piece that was played in the movie. The clerk immediately identified it as the first part of Kinderscenen, and I was very impressed by his knowledge and told him so. Oh, he said, no big deal. You are the fifth customer to ask that question today!