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Beethoven - Complete Works for Solo Piano, Vol. 15: ‘Diabelli’

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Catalogue numberBIS-1943 SACD
Release date2017-01-10
Discs1
Orig. sample rate96000 Hz
Total time67:34

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.
 
  • STUDIO QUALITY
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    • FLAC 24-bit Surround 5.0
    • FLAC 16-bit Stereo
    • MP3 Stereo
  • CD QUALITY | MP3
    File formats included in CD QUALITY | MP3
    • FLAC 16-bit Stereo
    • MP3 Stereo
$ 16.15
 
Extra material for download
 
  33 Veränderungen über einen Walzer von Anton Diabelli, Op.120 47:11
01 Theme: Vivace 00:56 $ 0.22 USD
02 Var. I. Alla marcia maestoso 01:42 $ 0.41 USD
03 Var. II. Poco allegro 00:49 $ 0.19 USD
04 Var. III. L’istesso tempo 01:10 $ 0.28 USD
05 Var. IV. Un poco più vivace 01:00 $ 0.24 USD
06 Var. V. Allegro vivace 01:00 $ 0.21 USD
07 Var. VI. Allegro ma non troppo e serioso 01:43 $ 0.41 USD
08 Var. VII. Un poco più allegro 01:00 $ 0.24 USD
09 Var. VIII. Poco vivace 01:09 $ 0.28 USD
10 Var. IX. Allegro pesante e risoluto 01:59 $ 0.47 USD
11 Var. X. Presto 00:36 $ 0.14 USD
12 Var. XI. Allegretto 00:52 $ 0.21 USD
13 Var. XII. Un poco più moto 00:57 $ 0.22 USD
14 Var. XIII. Vivace 00:57 $ 0.22 USD
15 Var. XIV. Grave e maestoso 03:09 $ 0.76 USD
16 Var. XV. Presto scherzando 00:33 $ 0.13 USD
17 Var. XVI. Allegro 00:53 $ 0.21 USD
18 Var. XVII. Allegro 00:53 $ 0.23 USD
19 Var. XVIII. Poco moderato 01:26 $ 0.34 USD
20 Var. XIX. Presto 00:51 $ 0.20 USD
21 Var. XX. Andante 02:05 $ 0.50 USD
 
22 Var. XXI. Allegro con brio 01:14 $ 0.29 USD
23 Var. XXII. Allegro molto (alla ‘Notte e giorno faticar’
di Mozart)
00:40 $ 0.16 USD
24 Var. XXIII. Allegro assai 00:56 $ 0.22 USD
25 Var. XXIV. Fughetta. Andante 02:19 $ 0.56 USD
26 Var. XXV. Allegro 00:42 $ 0.16 USD
27 Var. XXVI. Piacevole 01:18 $ 0.31 USD
28 Var. XXVII. Vivace 00:58 $ 0.23 USD
29 Var. XXVIII. Allegro 00:52 $ 0.21 USD
30 Var. XXIX. Adagio ma non troppo 00:56 $ 0.22 USD
31 Var. XXX. Andante, sempre cantabile 01:57 $ 0.46 USD
32 Var. XXXI. Largo, molto espressivo 04:14 $ 1.02 USD
33 Var. XXXII. Fuga. Allegro - Poco adagio 03:00 $ 0.72 USD
34 Var. XXXIII. Tempo di minuetto moderato 03:39 $ 0.95 USD
 
  6 National Airs with Variations, Op. 105 18:09
35 I. Variations on a Welsh folk song (The cottage maid) 02:28 $ 0.60 USD
36 II. Variations on a Scottish folk song (Von edlem Geschlecht
war Shinkin – ‘Of noble stock was Shinkin’)
02:28 $ 0.59 USD
37 III. Variations on an Austrian folk song (A Schüsserl und a
Reindl – ‘A bowl and a skillet’)
05:33 $ 1.34 USD
38 IV. Variations on an Irish folk song (The last rose of
summer)
03:04 $ 0.74 USD
39 V. Variations on an Irish folk song (Chiling O’Guiry) 02:06 $ 0.51 USD
40 VI. Variations on an Irish folksong (Paddy whack) 02:30 $ 0.73 USD
 
  Album total 67:34
FortepianoBrautigam, Ronald

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