Beethoven: Complete Works for Solo Piano, Vol. 11 - Brautigam
BIS BIS-SACD-1673
Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid
Classical - Instrumental
Ludwig van Beethoven:
12 Variationen über den russischen Tanz aus Das Waldmädchen WoO71
8 Variationen über Une fièvre brûlante WoO72
10 Variationen über La stessa, la stessissima WoO73
7 Variationen über Kind, willst du ruhig schlafen WoO75
8 Variationen über Tändeln und Scherzen WoO76
6 Variationen über ein eigenes Thema G-Dur WoO77
15 Variationen mit einer Fuge in E-flat major, Op. 35 ("Eroica" Variations)
Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano)
Theme and variations’ is one form that Beethoven employed throughout his career. He wrote his first surviving set while still a boy in Bonn and finished the last one some forty years later – a statistical fact that becomes interesting when one considers the inherent tension between the composer’s dramatic style and the static and decorative nature of the form itself. Towards the end of the 18th century variation form was generally used for entertaining elaborations on popular tunes but Beethoven, being Beethoven, changed the ground rules radically.
For a while he followed the convention – or shrewd marketing strategy – of using existing melodies from operas or ballets, but often these would almost immediately undergo such profound transformations that he might as well have used an unknown theme. As a consequence it is understandable that Beethoven’s variations were often considered much too learned, far too eccentric and, by some, even offensive.
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- Ludwig van Beethoven: Variations and Fugue in E flat major, Op. 35 'Eroica'
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Variations on 'Das Waldmädchen' (Wranitzky) in A major, WoO 71
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Variations on 'Kind, willst du ruhig schlafen' (von Winter) in F major, WoO 75
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Variations on 'La stessa, la stessissima' (Salieri) in B flat major, WoO 73
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Variations on 'Tändeln und Scherzen' (Süssmayr) in F major, WoO 76
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Variations on 'Une fièvre brûlante' (Grétry) in C major, WoO 72
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Variations on a Simple Theme in G major, WoO 77
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