Artist: Ronald Brautigam
Title: Beethoven: Complete Works for Solo Piano, Vol. 15 - Diabelli Variations
Year Of Release: 2017
Label: BIS
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (image+.cue,log,scans)
Total Time: 01:07:34
Total Size: 271 Mb
Tracklist:33 Veränderungen über einen Walzer von Anton Diabelli, Op.120
01. Theme: Vivace
02. Var. I. Alla marcia maestoso
03. Var. II. Poco allegro
04. Var. III. L'istesso tempo
05. Var. IV. Un poco più vivace
06. Var. V. Allegro vivace
07. Var. VI. Allegro ma non troppo e serioso
08. Var. VII. Un poco più allegro
09. Var. VIII. Poco vivace
10. Var. IX. Allegro pesante e risoluto
11. Var. X. Presto
12. Var. XI. Allegretto
13. Var. XII. Un poco più moto
14. Var. XIII. Vivace
15. Var. XIV. Grave e maestoso
16. Var. XV. Presto scherzando
17. Var. XVI. Allegro
18. Var. XVII. Allegro
19. Var. XVIII. Poco moderato
20. Var. XIX. Presto
21. Var. XX. Andante
22. Var. XXI. Allegro con brio
23. Var. XXII. Allegro molto (alla 'Notte e giorno faticar' di Mozart)
24. Var. XXIII. Allegro assai
25. Var. XXIV. Fughetta. Andante
26. Var. XXV. Allegro
27. Var. XXVI. Piacevole
28. Var. XXVII. Vivace
29. Var. XXVIII. Allegro
30. Var. XXIX. Adagio ma non troppo
31. Var. XXX. Andante, sempre cantabile
32. Var. XXXI. Largo, molto espressivo
33. Var. XXXII. Fuga. Allegro - Poco adagio
34. Var. XXXIII. Tempo di minuetto moderato
6 National Airs with Variations, Op. 105
35. I. Variations on a Welsh folk song (The cottage maid)
36. II. Variations on a Scottish folk song (Von edlem Geschlecht war Shinkin - 'Of noble stock was Shinkin')
37. III. Variations on an Austrian folk song (A Schüsserl und a Reindl - 'A bowl and a skillet')
38. IV. Variations on an Irish folk song (The last rose of summer)
39. V. Variations on an Irish folk song (Chiling O'Guiry)
40. VI. Variations on an Irish folksong (Paddy whack)
Performers:Ronald Brautigam, piano
In 1819 the Viennese music publisher and composer Anton Diabelli sent a short waltz to a long list of composers. These included Schubert, Hummel, a very young Franz Liszt and, as the most prominent composer of the time, naturally Beethoven. Diabelli was proposing to compile an anthology of variations on his own waltz, one from each composer. Beethoven responded in a characteristic manner: first there was nothing, and then there was nothing . and then, in 1823, there was an entire, and monumental, set of no less than thirty-three variations.
There are several possible reasons for this, one being that Beethoven felt that it was below his dignity to take part in a project of this nature. What is certain, however, is that he must have found Diabelli's theme intriguing material to work with - and against: Beethoven often seems to poke fun at the waltz, starting already in the first variation by turning it into a pompous march. But like all truly great variation works the Diabelli Variations take in the high as well as the low, jokes as well as drama - or serenity, as in Variation 24, a Fughetta, clearly inspired by the Aria in Bach's Goldberg Variations.
As the last large-scale piano work by Beethoven, the Diabelli Variations form a fitting close to Ronald Brautigam's traversal of the complete solo piano music. Described in International Record Review as 'a Beethoven player whose musical discernment is a constant source of wonderment', Brautigam has through the course of this series performed works composed between 1783 and 1825, using four different fortepianos. On the present disc we hear a copy of a 4-stringed fortepiano by Conrad Graf from 1822 - similar to Beethoven's own last instrument, which Graf supplied him with in 1826, a year before the composer's death.
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