Note: This score is at sounding pitch. Parts available upon request.

Commentary by Left Brain vs. Right Brain: RB: "Inspiration comes from the darndest places. In a nutcase, it truly is Left Brain vs. Right Brain: best 2 falls out of 3. Classical music oughta be fun, so I had a ball composing this." LB: "Firstly, as my world première concert (see my Theme and Variations in G Minor for Contrabassoon and Orchestra) approached in 2005, the soloist recommended that I create another score for the conductor. Secondly, as Coordinator of the Classical Music SIG (or Special Interest Group) of American Mensa, I researched the history of the waltz for our newsletter. Thirdly, I saw the 1949 film The Third Man by Graham Greene and Sir Carol Reed, set in postwar Vienna." RB: "Based on these triple inspirations, I rolled up the sleeves of my straitjacket, upgraded my padded cell to a Paderewski cell, and voilà! After an introduction, the big sweet violas play the paradoxically graceful yet somewhat ungainly main theme à la viennoise: it's humorous and sad, radiant and wistful, gracious and heavy, etc." LB: "Completed in October 2004, this piece has elements of rondo, variation and sonata forms melded with the standard Viennese waltz in A Major, with episodes in its dominant keys of E Major and E Minor. Incidentally, perceptive listeners have noted that the first 9 notes of the flowing main theme are the 8 notes of the A Major scale, plus 1." RB: "You betcha. Kinda like Spinal Tap, eh? Their amplifiers went up that extra degree to 11, while my scale goes up that extra degree to 9."