Rudolf Serkin, 1958.
The variations were written in response to a challenge from Diabelli, who invited eminent composers to write variations on a theme he had written.
As is so often the case, the genius responded in a very OTT way, and today we have a set of pieces that take up a good half of a recital programme, and which range from straightforward treatments to representations of virtually symphonic status.
One of the variations actually nods to Leporello's song about being a servant (from Mozart's Don Giovanni) - probably a dig at vB serving the interests of Diabelli.
As a performance piece this is something of a tour de force similar to Bach's Goldberg Variations.
It's an old/ancient recording, but manages to capture the physical/emotional excitement of the performance (I think this is probably from the days where you got 3 takes to get it right, and the best one was the one that got released!) - sound quality is good (not like some of the budget 40s and 50s recordings you should steer clear of).
And there are the Bagatelles - a quirky set of piano pieces with terrific, idiosyncratic, characters - as an added bonus.
9/10.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment