Diabelli Variations

[Mandryka]

I just want to maintain a list of the performances I've listened to, and this seems like as good a place as any. I seem to be on a major DV journey at the moment. I'll just keep modifying the list

Top recordings

Leonard Shure (Epic)
Michael Oelbaum
Rosen
Kuerti
Sokolov
Pollini (live preferably)
Horszowski
Daria Rabotkina
Bernard Roberts
S Richter (Prague)
Mustonen
Nikolayeve 1979
Brendel 2001
Kovacevich (Onyx)
Hans Petermandl

Need to revisit to get my head round

Vieru
Arrau (2 recordings)
Cooper
Gulda (2 recordings)
Ciani
Katchen
R Serkin (live and.studio)
Pludermacher
Rangell
Sheppard
John Browning




Fine but not special for me

Schiff
Anderszewski
Lefébure
Frith
Lewis
Yudina
Ugorski



Don't much want to hear again

Schnabel
Backhaus
S Richter (1950s)
Komen
Afanassiev
Kinderman
Korstick
Richter-Haaser
Brendel 1977
Leonard Shure (audiofon)


Haven't heard and want to hear

Nikolayeva 1981
Koroliov
Kovacevich (Philips)
John Browning
Amadeus Webersinke

[Pat B]

Has your opinion on Komen changed? You seemed fairly enthusiastic about it in the Beethoven in Period Performances thread (as did everybody else) but that's several years ago now.

I like it, though I haven't heard very many other recordings. Mustonen is available at my library so I'll be sure to check that out.

[Mandryka]

Has your opinion on Komen changed? You seemed fairly enthusiastic about it in the Beethoven in Period Performances thread (as did everybody else) but that's several years ago now.

I like it, though I haven't heard very many other recordings. Mustonen is available at my library so I'll be sure to check that out.

I have indeed changed my mind about Komen.  I just don't notice anything really insightful or remarkable about it, and that makes me not want to hear it again. Maybe others have seen what I've missed.  When I made positive comments years ago I really wan't aware of what this music can be. And what I look for now is different from what impressed me then.

The Mustonen. I dithered about whether to mention that, because it's just so quirky and smart arse, iconoclastic almost. But I played it again a couple of times and I decided that the sheer liveliness and colourfulness was irresistable, it's like he's constantly making you prick up your ears, Even if his musical decisions are really sometimes his whims, I like to hear what he does. And for me, that's enough. I'm not saying it's deep or revealing or anything, I just enjoy it.  Generally I enjoy Mustonen, in Shostakovich and Scriabin for example.

As you can see the list is really personal and probably useless to anyone else, I made it for me really - I seem to be listening to so many of these things I need a way of keeping some sort of track.

[Pat B]

Thanks for the elaborations. Of course you're correct that any such list is personal, but I have enjoyed some of the things you endorsed. In the case of Mustonen it won't cost me anything other than the time to listen to it.

As an aside I have Kovacevich '68 on order.

[Todd]

Finished up a first go-round with Mr Goodyear's Diabelli's today.  The disc is in much better sound than his sonata cycle, with just the right perspective and clarity and weight.  Goodyear is not much of a colorist; instead he focuses clarity of voices, rhythm, and dynamics.  He also plays fast, often very fast, much of the time, though he does slow way down in variation 20, playing it more as an Adagio than Andante, and he offers maximum possible contrast by then playing variation 21 at super-human speed.  A most enjoyable recording.  I shall listen again soon, very soon.

[Mandryka]

I'm going to put my own transfer of Hans Petermandl's very successful, very classical, Diabelli Varitions on symphonyshare. If you want it directly you can PM me. There is a poor commercial mp3 transfer but it is something to avoid like the plague because of the enormous pauses they put between each variation.

Petermandl is my big pianist discovery of the past couple of years, along with Peter Hill, who has also recorded these variations.

[bigshot]

A faithful transfer of Schnabel for once...
http://www.vintageip.com/xfers/schnabeldiabellis.mp3

[Mandryka]

Sound quality apart, does anyone like Schnabel's Diabelli Variations? (I've never enjoyed it, it never seems to take off somehow.)

[Holden]

Yes I do but it's nowhere near the top performance for me. A similar approach but far superior interpretation is by Kovacevich.

As I've said earlier in this thread the Philips Arrau is my favourite.

[Mandryka]

Yes I do but it's nowhere near the top performance for me. A similar approach but far superior interpretation is by Kovacevich.

Kovacevich on Philips you mean?  I like both his later recordings.

One other very old one which I really should go back and reappraise is Backhaus's. Only yesterday I was listening him play op 110 and op 111 and I thought it was so quirky it was fascinating. It would be good to understand what Backhaus was up to in late Beethoven.

[torut]

One other very old one which I really should go back and reappraise is Backhaus's. Only yesterday I was listening him play op 110 and op 111 and I thought it was so quirky it was fascinating. It would be good to understand what Backhaus was up to in late Beethoven.

Backhaus's recording of Op. 109 was the very first classical music I listened to with great interest. It may be dry and cold, but still it's my favorite Op. 109 recording.
However, his performance of Diabelli Variations (included in the piano concertos set with Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt conducting Wiener Philharmoniker) was not memorable to me. (The piano concertos were good.)
Yesterday I got Staier's recording of Diabelli Variations, and I liked it a lot. The fortepiano's sound is rich and the performance is vivid. The other composers' variations are also interesting, especially Listz's and Schubert's.
I'll re-listen to Backhaus's Diabelli.

[Mandryka]

Yes, it's like materialist late Beethoven (Backhaus)

[bigshot]

The unique thing about Schnabel is the tone he gets out of the notes, not the notes themselves. It isn't a technically perfect performance, but the variation in mood and tone is remarkable. If you listen carefully, each note seems to have a shape. I'm not sure how he achieved this, but the slightly distant recording acoustic flatters it. The only trick is getting all the surface noise out of the way so you can hear the shapes of the notes. Heavy handed noise reduction messes this up, so it's a fine line to tread.

[staxomega]

Bumping this thread to see if anyone has recommendations for exceptional performances on fortepiano? I maybe need to give Andreas Staier another listen, I thought it was well played and he used a nice instrument, but didn't get anything much more than that.

Sound quality apart, does anyone like Schnabel's Diabelli Variations? (I've never enjoyed it, it never seems to take off somehow.)

Coincidentally I was revisiting Schnabel tonight, I think he starts off a bit slow (not referring to tempo)/generic and even a bit plodding, but he really picks it up by the 4th variation and by the 6th he is in full swing playing with great color, rubato and making the music pretty exciting when it is called for.

I don't know if he recorded these in order, but I feel like from there on it does pick up and remain at a generally very high level of interpretation (outside of a handful of variations), like in Variation 8, he really brings out the profundity reflecting how it is almost reminiscent of Op. 111. I also like that you can't just make one generalization about his tempi.

I am listening to Naxos transfers, I haven't heard any others (might check out the Pearl), on these I feel like you get a very good feel for his artistry; the source sounds like it was seldom played and there is enough brilliance in the upper end without sacrificing piano body.

[JBS]

Bumping this thread to see if anyone has recommendations for exceptional performances on fortepiano? I maybe need to give Andreas Staier another listen, I thought it was well played and he used a nice instrument, but didn't get anything much more than that.

Coincidentally I was revisiting Schnabel tonight, I think he starts off a bit slow (not referring to tempo)/generic and even a bit plodding, but I think he really picks it up by the 4th variation and by the 6th he is in full swing playing with great color, rubato and making the music pretty exciting when it is called for.

I don't know if he recorded these in order, but I feel like from there on it does pick up and remain at a generally very high level of interpretation (outside of a handful of variations), like in Variation 8, he really brings out the profundity reflecting how it is almost reminiscent of Op. 111. I also like that you can't just make one generalization about his tempi.

I am listening to Naxos transfers, I haven't heard any others (might check out the Pearl), on these I feel like you get a very good feel for his artistry; the source sounds like it was seldom played and there is enough of brilliance in the upper end without sacrificing piano body.

Schiff did an interesting one for ECM, one take on a modern instrument, one take on an historical.  But I don't know it can be called exceptional. I don't have much LvB on fortepiano,  and my favorite DV is probably the recording I first heard them on, Serkin's.

[staxomega]

Schiff did an interesting one for ECM, one take on a modern instrument, one take on an historical.  But I don't know it can be called exceptional. I don't have much LvB on fortepiano,  and my favorite DV is probably the recording I first heard them on, Serkin's.

I like both of Rudolf Serkin's recordings as well. I think I will try Peter Serkin for fortepiano given I liked most of what he played in the late sonatas. I became a bit enamored with fortepiano when I heard some Haydn Trios played on one and was able to play it afterward (I imagine a reproduction, unsure of the make) and quickly understood why Paul Badura-Skoda and Jorg Demus liked to collect them.

[JBS]

I like both of Rudolf Serkin's recordings as well. I think I will try Peter Serkin for fortepiano given I liked most of what he played in the late sonatas. I became a bit enamored with fortepiano when I heard some Haydn Trios played on one and was able to play it afterward (I imagine a reproduction, unsure of the make) and quickly understood why Paul Badura-Skoda and Jorg Demus liked to collect them.

I think they are essential for anything pre LvB, but from Beethoven on, I think diminishing returns is the rule. That said, I think Tan's concerto cycle is very good. I have Brautigam's sonata set, and am gearing up to get his concerto and variations sets.

[Mandryka]

Very clear essay about structure in the variations by Filippo Gorini

In 1819, Anton Diabelli, composer, publisher and copyist, asked a number of Viennese musicians
to contribute one variation each on a theme of his own composition. Beethoven, while at first
apparently disregarding this project, decided instead to compose a monumental cycle of 33
variations, a work now commonly compared to Bach's Goldberg Variations for its originality,
mastery and size. It was completed and published in 1823. Meanwhile, Beethoven had composed
such masterpieces as the last three piano sonatas and the Missa Solemnis, and was about to
finish the Ninth Symphony just one year later.

While the Goldberg Variations restate the Aria at the end, giving a cyclic, orphic shape to the
whole set, the Diabelli are more directional in their architecture, leading us from the mundane
foundations of the theme to the pinnacle of the celestial minuet. Throughout this journey,
Beethoven explores the human nature in its diversity, not disregarding the use of traditionally
incompatible modes of expression: from dance to frenzy, from mockery to sober contemplation,
from bold energy to mysterious depths, from grieving to joy. In this mixed tone, the variations
could also be taken as the supreme example of comedy in music, a comedy of positive (but not
necessarily light) character that ranges from humble to sublime. There is a redemptive quality to
this spiralling dance that seems to lift us to the heavens, and reminds us of Beethoven's love and
hope for humanity, emblematic in Schiller's Ode to Joy.

Beethoven approaches the theme with unparalleled audacity, at times maintaining only its most
basic structural elements in the variations. With the exception of one double variation, each of the pieces springs up with its particular character and function within an architecture that, in
our opinion, can be divided into four large arcs. The theme itself is a simple waltz, bold and
unpretentious. What characterizes it in particular are its upbeat figures, harmonic structure,
dance rhythm, repeated chords and division into two distinct halves, each with repeats – features
that are selectively used by Beethoven as a basis for the variations.
This first of these arcs is of a bright character that leaves little room for introverted thought. The
opening march (var. 1), immediately attacks the theme head-on, disregarding its metre, tempo
and temperament, and setting up the grandeur necessary to open such a large-scale work. The
subsequent variations start with the light, vibrant landscape of var. 2, and mutate slowly, becoming
first more expressive and then gradually more excited and energetic. After an intermezzo (nr.
that breaks the accumulated tension with a softly sung melody over gentle, rocking arpeggios,
nr. 9 erupts in spectacular fashion: one of the rare c minor pieces, its brusque character is based
entirely on the upbeat figure of the theme. The explosive conclusion to this arc comes with nr. 10,
a virtuosic parade of staccato chords and octaves over suspended tremoli.

The second arc is very different from the first: instead of creating one long climactic series of
variations, it jolts with bursts of energy that are quickly interrupted by slower pieces, and ends
in complete mystery. It starts, as it were, from nothing, with the very soft and expressive var.
11 and a mobile, luminescent nr. 12, interrupted by the humoristic nr. 13, a parody of a waltz
stripped of its melody and left bare with only its rhythms, harmonies and silences. After a very
serious, sublime var. 14, the following pieces are at first lighthearted, then virtuosic and filled
with tremendous energy. An extremely expressive nr. 18 and the dazzling canon of nr. 19 give
room to the mysterious nr. 20: a slow piece made of grave chords with impenetrable harmonies.
It concludes this second arc in a shroud of enigma.

The third arc is the most capricious, with cunning parodies, a sublime fughetta and the tour de
force of variations 27 and 28. It begins, after the inner sanctuary of var. 20, with nr. 21 in a wellnigh comic alternation of energetic outbursts and plaintive elements. Nr. 22, the most obvious
parody within the Diabelli, turns Mozart's famous aria "Notte e giorno faticar" into a sneeze; on a
more subtle level, "working night and day for someone who appreciates nothing" is also a hidden
jab at Diabelli for pressuring him to finish the set. After var. 23, a stunning parody of technical
exercises, var. 24, a fughetta, makes a drastic leap in character and transports us into a spiritual
world. As refined as rigorous in craft, it is one of the most breathtaking events in the set. A lively
German dance (nr. 25) and an atmospheric var. 26 precede the frenetic nrs. 27 and 28 that
conclude this arc with incredible power.

The last arc is sublime, leading to the celestial conclusion. Var. 29 begins a series of three slow
variations in c minor: a faint but insistent sob is followed by a contemplative, flowing song of
dignified grief. Var. 31, the great Largo with its free and flourished singing, is a desperate prayer
in an hour of darkness, a veritable de profundis. Var. 32, a double fugue, then marks a stunning
rebirth: in E Flat, it comes as a dramatic surprise. Its insistent rhythm and bold nature accumulate
momentum before crashing on a dissonance. Following a few suspended chords, the minuet (var.
33) unfolds, a graceful dance filled with the voices of angels. Long gone is the rough enthusiasm
of the theme: we have arrived in a realm of spirit and beauty. The coda appears to peter out into
a void; however, as our voyage has finally found its destination, a sonorous chord brings us firmly
back to earth.

[Holden]

A new set of the Diabelli's by Uchida. The way she handles the opening theme sets the tone for the rest of the variations, especially the way she uses dynamics.

[Mandryka]

A new set of the Diabelli's by Uchida. The way she handles the opening theme sets the tone for the rest of the variations, especially the way she uses dynamics.

She certainly does believe in lots of nuance, shading, refinement, elegance, seriousness, everything thoroughly considered, everything honed and polished.