performed by Mitsuko Uchida, or below by Krystian Zimerman, or Pollini w/ the score (cover image by Mitch Lensink) Of all forms and structures of music, the variation form may be the easiest to understand: a theme… with variations, or … Continue reading Webern: Variations for Piano, op. 27
performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy, or below by Nikolai Lugansky Rachmaninoff! Also been a while since we’ve seen this guy. I actually had no intentions of duplicating so many of the composers from last year’s Russian Symphony series in this piano … Continue reading Rachmaninoff: Variations on a theme of Chopin, op. 22
performed by the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado (original two-piano version here) … except not, because it isn’t. The “Chorale St Antoni” was supposed or assumed at the time to have been composed by Haydn, but later found not to be so; … Continue reading Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn
performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy, or below by Christoph Eschenbach On to Schumann! Schumann was born the same year as Chopin, on June 8, 1810, and as we’ve stated with some of Chopin’s pieces, he made glowing statements about Chopin’s early works in his own early days as a music critic, even inspiring his own future father-in-law to sing the praises of Chopin’s op. 2, embarrassing its composer in the process. While Chopin marked the end of our really hefty address of some of the earliest piano works of really significant composers, I couldn’t help but add a few things to … Continue reading Schumann: Variations on the name Abbeg, op. 1
performed by Idil Biret and the Slovak State Philharmonic orchestra under Robert Stankovsky Eusebius came in quietly the other day. You know the ironic smile on his pale face with which he seeks to create suspense. I was sitting at … Continue reading Chopin: Variations on ‘Là ci darem la mano’ for piano and orchestra, Op. 2
performed by Mikhail Pletnev … there’s too much music to talk about to separate this stuff into posts. As we did in our treatment of Mozart for the past week (more), we’re going to get through a few early pieces … Continue reading Beethoven: Variations on a March by E.C.Dressler in Cm, WoO 63
Fugue for Thought 