Beethoven initially abandoned the Diabelli Variations project, preferring to work on his late piano sonatas, before resuming it in the summer of 1822.
Compositional Technique
Beethoven's Diabelli Variations include homages to other composers, such as Mozart, Bach, and Johann Baptist Cramer, whose first piano exercise is parodied in Variation 23.
Performer Biography
Paul Lewis, the pianist on this recording, was the first soloist to perform all of Beethoven's piano concertos at the BBC Proms in a single season in 2010.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Beethoven viewed each variation in the Diabelli Variations as a 'snapshot' and the collection as 'so many instants elaborated in and for themselves'.
Critical Reception
Diabelli himself described Beethoven's 33 Variations as a 'great and important masterpiece, worthy to be ranked with the imperishable creations of the old Classics'.
Composition History
Anton Diabelli, a publisher, invited famous musicians, including an eight-year-old Franz Liszt, to write a variation on his waltz in 1819.
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