Beethoven: Diabelli Variations, Op. 120 (33 Variations in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli)

Following critically acclaimed traversals of Mozart’s Sonatas and J.S. Bach’s groundbreaking Goldberg Variations, Daniel-Ben Pienaar scales the heights of Beethoven’s monumental Diabelli Variations, complemented by the six Bagatelles, Op. 126.

Daniel-Ben Pienaar “makes the Goldbergs sound more like that other supreme set of variations, Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, than any other pianist has.” An appropriate observation from BBC Music Magazine, as Pienaar follows his acclaimed recording of Bach’s groundbreaking Goldberg Variations (AV2235), by scaling the heights of Beethoven’s monumental 33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli. Variously called “the greatest set of variations ever written” and “the greatest of all piano works”, this late work is one of Beethoven’s most adventurous, suitably challenging for Pienaar’s technical wizardry and probing intellect. He compliments the set with Beethoven’s last great work for solo piano, the Bagatelles, Op. 126, which themselves are no mere trifles. As with his previous releases, Pienaar contributes in-depth notes which delve deeply into the music’s enigmas.

Combined with his sometimes provocative, always enlightening interpretations, Pienaar has once again created a highly satisfying release for the committed classical listener.

Sviatoslav Richter never played the 'Moonlight' Sonata in public - quite extraordinary when you consider that the opening adagio is one of the most performed keyboard pieces ever.

Here we have an unusual juxtaposition of two very different aspects of Beethoven's oeuvre. Sonata No. 31, prefaces the disarray of the adagio of the 15th Quartet op.132, and has no dedicatee, but Richter's incomparable art of legato makes it irresistible. The 'Diabelli Variations', like the 'Art of Fugue' or Bach's 'Goldberg Variations', are not ideal in concert, too introspective or better served in bite-sized chunks. Richter offers his unique view leading from Bach to Stockhausen via Mozart and anticipating the pianism of Chopin and Liszt.

In 1819 the Viennese publisher Anton Diabelli asked ‘the most excellent composers and virtuosi of Vienna and the Austrian Empire’, to write a variation on a waltz theme he had composed. Beethoven was also asked, and although he at first refused, he did finally deliver a cycle of 33 variations as his own contribution to this strange competition. His set was published separately in 1823. The 50 variations by the other composers appeared a year later, under the collective title of ‘National Society of Artists, Part 2’. From these, Jörg Demus chooses 32, basing his decisions both on the quality of the pieces themselves, and the playing-time of an LP, on which the recording first appeared. Played on various fortepianos of the time, this marks this unique recording’s first release on CD.

As is his custom, Andreas Staier has gone back to the original manuscript of one of the most famous sets of variations in history: Beethoven’s 'Diabelli Variations'. He has not however, restricted his work to recording the magnum opus, since the CD begins with a selection of variations written by some of the other 50 composers Diabelli asked to take part in his project. Here you can discover the very first stirrings of Liszt’s virtuosity (aged 11), the music of Mozart’s son, the unexpected variations of Kreutzer and Kalkbrenner, and the 'Diabelli Variation' of a certain Franz Schubert. A thrilling musical investigation with Andreas Staier's own 'Introduction'.

"My intention with the Introduction was to create a sound-space that separates the twelve ‘preludes’, from Czerny to Schubert, from Beethoven’s great cycle. It’s a pause for breath in what is otherwise rigorously composed music. So I think the improvisatory element is perfectly appropriate here. And that way one can ensure that Diabelli’s waltz has the necessary freshness the second time it’s played. I keep to the essence of what can be made out from Beethoven’s sketch of 1819, and stay close to the theme. The striking three-note motif with the combination of the intervals of a semitone and a rising third suggests an echo of the finale from the Piano Sonata in D major op.10 no.3. But I didn’t develop the interval of the descending fourth in the sketch because it’s so clearly presented by Beethoven himself in the very first variation...

This fascinating manuscript allows us to infer Beethoven’s choleric and impatient sides, but not the ironic side to his character. The annotations show his worries and difficulties during a pretty laborious process of composition. What began as a fair copy increasingly turns into a working manuscript. With the dynamics of the handwriting and the many corrections and erasures, it provides a whole range of pointers to the composer’s intentions. It’s a treasure trove for the interpreter." Andreas Staier

Published in June 1823 and dedicated to Antonie Brentano, the 33 Variations Op.120 were described by Diabelli himself as "a great and important masterpiece, worthy to be ranked with the imperishable creations of the old Classics [and to occupy] a place beside Sebastian Bach’s famous masterpieces of the same type". And indeed, Beethoven revolutionised the genre – but, paradoxically, by taking it into the unexpected regions of the bagatelle.

Between 2005 and 2007 Paul Lewis performed all the Beethoven piano sonatas on tour in the USA and Europe, in tandem with his complete recording of the cycle for harmonia mundi. This project earned him two Gramophone Awards in 2008: Recording of the Year and Best Instrumental Recording. In the summer of 2010 he became the first soloist to perform the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos at the BBC Proms in a single season. His studio recordings of the cycle with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Jirí Belohlávek have since been acclaimed by the international press. From Autumn 2008 until the end of last year he immersed himself in performances of the Beethoven Sonatas, Diabellis and Concertos and there are few UK venues he did not appear in.

Parnassus's ongoing documentation of the little-known early period of Sviatoslav Richter's career continues with a monumental, mostly unpublished Beethoven recital from 1951. While there are well-known recordings of Richter playing the "Diabelli" Variations from 1971 and 1986, this is the earliest documented performance of him playing the music. Of the material in this concert, only the "Diabelli" Variations have ever been published before. The remaining material from this concert has never been published in any form.

Gary Cooper: "The decision to use a historic Viennese instrument for this recording - built in the very year Beethoven completed his Diabelli Variations – is, in one sense, self-explanatory. Newly & magnificently restored by Edwin Beunk, the Walter und Sohn grand piano featured here is both a beautiful & charming instrument. In approaching the timeless, expansive sound world of Beethoven's late, great works, any piano is constantly tested; historic instruments not far off two hundred years old additionally so! This is the first commercial recording, to my knowledge, which attempts to place this particular masterpiece firmly in the sound-world of the early 1820s, when it was conceived and first played."

In his extensive liner notes, based on many letters and historical documents, Gary Cooper wonders why Beethoven chose to continue composing, after the onset of deafness. (...) ‘I cannot imagine that I am alone in feeling both puzzled & amazed by this, as well as gratitude that he did so, since many of his very finest, most sublime works stem from this later period. (...) The key word here is imagination: while we imagine Beethoven should be pitied, I also imagine he pitied others since, through deafness, he was no longer prey to the prosaic nature of general conversation which he abhorred above all else; and in this new-found world of profound silence, his fecund imagination created nothing but unadulterated music, without reference to anyone but himself, and his maker. All great art, in Beethoven's own philosophy, is simply a process of a 'returning to the divine when achieved'.

Very special release indeed, the return after more than 40 years to the piece that first brought him worldwide fame – Stephen Kovacevich in Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations.

In the 90s Stephen recorded the complete Beethoven Sonatas for EMI for the first time, and the set is one of the standard recommendations. Yet something was missing and this recording completes the cycle, which for Kovacevich has become a true life-cycle, having given his sensational Wigmore Hall debut with this piece in 1961 and recording it in a still-classic version for Philips in 1968.

His conception has changed – it has a more live quality (despite being a studio recording) and more dramatic - quite simply it’s picks you up and sweeps you along irresistibly to the very end. Some of the most profound Beethoven playing ever put on disc!

As a generous bonus comes his first ever Bach recording, a concert favourite of his, Bach’s Partita no 4 which provides a wonderful palate-cleanser after the emotional rollercoaster of the Diabelli!