Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin (Solo Piano, Arr. Kian Geiselbrechtinger)

Details

Description

For the Leaving Certificate Music examination in Ireland, candidates can choose to be graded on 6 pieces, played over the course of 20 minutes. This was the fourth piece in my repertoire.

There's probably a million different versions of this song on YouTube, but I think it's actually quite rare to come across a great piano arrangement. That's probably what inspired my piano teacher to arrange this version, which is a bit shorter than the original Led Zeppelin tune, but flows perfectly for solo piano.

It's not an easy arrangement, but it does fit really nicely around your fingers. My favourite part is definitely the 'guitar' solo, which just feels really satisfying to play!

A huge thanks to Kian (my teacher) for arranging the piece.

P.S.
I performed this directly after the Rachmaninov Prelude, op. 3 no.2, in my exam. Arguably it's a bit jarring, but I love the way the Rachmaninov ends in such an apocalyptic way, and then the first phrase of Stairway to Heaven sort of rises out of those ashes.