Mozart: Variations (9) in D on a Menuet by Duport, K573

Most often, when it comes to Mozart’s works for piano, one forgets that, like Chopin and Liszt, Mozart was a great piano virtuoso. In his lifetime, his fame is due to a large extend to his gift to interpret. Indeed, he wrote a certain number of cycles of variations which bring out both the talent of the composer and that of the performer.

Composed in Paris, the 11th sonata in A major K.331 begins with a slow movement.

The Minuet and its Trio seem very close to a theme by Gluck and the last famous movement Alla Turca: Allegretto which is known for the French as the Marche Turque comes from the overture of the Pélerins de La Mecque by Gluck.

The Six Variations in F major on “Salve tu Domine” are the notation of improvisations given by Mozart on the 23rd March, 1783, in front of Joseph II. On this very day, Mozart was improvising the Ten Variations on the “Pélerins de La Mecque” from an opera of the same by Gluck. However, Mozart finishes them one year later.

The Twelve Variations on an allegretto were finished on the 12th September, 1786.

Mozart’s variations for the piano stand between two brillant successes, over a century apart, the variations Goldberg by Johann Sebastian and the variations Diabelli by Beethoven.

At the age of ten Zhu Xiao-Mei entered the Peking Conservatory where her brilliant studies were interrupted by the years of the Cultural Revolution. She was sent to a re-education camp on the border of Inner Mongolia for five years. On returning to Peking, she completed her studies and left China as soon as the regime gave its first signs of opening to the outside world. In 1980 she emigrated to the United States, settling in Paris in 1984. Zhu Ziao-Mei gives few concerts, appearing in public usually to perform demanding works: ‘mountains of the soul’.

This CD provides a short survey of the development of piano variations, beginning with Mozart’s Duport Variations. The collection also includes works by Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn and Chopin. Alejandro Picó-Leonis was born in Alicante and studied in Madrid and New York. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2002.

A multiple prize-winner at several international competitions, the young Chinese pianist Yun-yi Qin here presents a wide-ranging recital of major works and delightful miniatures that showcases her remarkable ability.

At only sixteen years old, Yun-yi Qin already performs with the technique and maturity of someone twice her age.

The light-fingered elegance required by Haydn and Mozart, the technical and expressive challenges posed by Schubert, and the almost demonic power demanded by Liszt are effortlessly met by this extraordinary teenager, whose assured technique, musical maturity, unaffected virtuosity and busy concert schedule already mark her as an important artist.

Yun-yi Qin was the winner of the 2008 Jaén Piano competition.