This week's clip is a bit of a revelation. It comes from Ben Parrish, the current President of the SU Phil:

For my clip of the week I have chosen a piece of music which I feel confident few will have heard before, and which you may be surprised by! Billy Joel is (as well as being my favourite popular musician) a Grammy award winning singer-songwriter with hits like Piano man, Uptown Girl and My Life. His 40 year career is almost unparalleled in the music industry and has resulted in his becoming the third highest solo artist album seller of all time, beating both Michael Jackson and Madonna.

In 2001 he released a suite of classical piano works which marked a return to the music of Joel's youth. This album was entitled Fantasies and Delusions and quickly rose to the top of the classical music charts. Whilst I could have easily chosen any piece from this suite as a clip of the week, I chose this particular one as I am currently learning it as a part of my final year recital, and consequently it has been something of an ear worm for me in recent weeks.

I hope that you all enjoy my selection; whilst I am under no illusion that it can hold up against the likes of a Brahms rhapsody or a Beethoven sonata, I still think it is interesting to see how a popular musician approaches the task of composing classical music.

Ben Parrish