[jsplice]

Alright, I know many of us have heard this piece before, but I heard it in a commercial two days ago and have been trying desperately to find out who the composer is, and the name of the piece.  I recorded the theme of it on my piano:
 
http://soundcloud.com/john-glista/theme-from-a-piece-that-i-cant
 
I really hope someone out there can help me out with this before I go insane.
 
Edit:  I was thinking late Romantic period, possibly a slovak/Russian composer.  But I've been plowing through their compositions on Spotify and I'm coming up with nothing.

 

[Henry Flower]

Not very helpful, but I've never heard it before. That at least suggests to me it's not Slovak.
 
I can imagine it as some kind of Viennese waltz. What kind of instrumentation are we looking for?
 

 

[jinny]

Found it!
 
Camille Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre, Op. 40
 

 
Saint-Saëns is actually a French Late-Romantic composer. And the title of this piece translated means Dance of the Death.
 
The part you are looking for first appears at 0:41 as a violin solo and will be repeated a few times throughout the piece!
 
This is a very exciting piece! Hope you enjoy it! =)

 

[jsplice]

Quote:

Found it!
 
Camille Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre, Op. 40
 

 
Saint-Saëns is actually a French Late-Romantic composer. And the title of this piece translated means Dance of the Death.
 
The part you are looking for first appears at 0:41 as a violin solo and will be repeated a few times throughout the piece!
 
This is a very exciting piece! Hope you enjoy it! =)

Oh my God you are an absolute lifesaver.  Thank you so much.  I've heard this piece many times before but hearing right now after trying to figure this out for about 4 days, it feels like my sanity has been restored.  I even tried playing the theme for Shazam and Soundhound, but those apps aren't very good at deciphering classical from my past experiences.  
 
My guess was at least correct on the Late-Romantic part.  That period of music is very interesting.  Thanks again.

 

[Happy Camper]

I had a similar thing about 25 yrs ago. I had heard a piece on the radio and threw in a tape to capture at least part of it. I tried in vane to locate the artist at the local music stores. Then, after several years, I was vacationing and was heading out to the beach when the lobby pianist started playing it. I was floored. I paid the man a $20, bought his CDs and was instantly relieved. I'm sure he appreciated the love because he played it for me several times during the visit. The song was Christofori's Dream by David Lanz.

 

[jsplice]

Quote:

I had a similar thing about 25 yrs ago. I had heard a piece on the radio and threw in a tape to capture at least part of it. I tried in vane to locate the artist at the local music stores. Then, after several years, I was vacationing and was heading out to the beach when the lobby pianist started playing it. I was floored. I paid the man a $20, bought his CDs and was instantly relieved. I'm sure he appreciated the love because he played it for me several times during the visit. The song was Christofori's Dream by David Lanz.

 
I can imagine that was pretty agonizing.  That was long before the days of the Internet, where we had the convenience of instantly asking a community of thousands of people for help.  I'm glad that you finally discovered the answer.  I actually know the exact piece you're referring to, and believe I've played that on piano myself.  I used to have a David Lanz book of music for piano, now that I think about it, but it think I misplaced it over the years somehow.  It is a very nice piece; a lot of his stuff is very good.