The Diabelli Project

Leading pianist Rudolf Buchbinder’s first album for Deutsche Grammophon is an innovative tribute to Beethoven. As well as recording the famed Diabelli Variations, Buchbinder plays 12 newly commissioned variations on the same theme, echoing music publisher Anton Diabelli’s original 1819 project that inspired Beethoven. Also included are the eight other variations written for Diabelli at the time, by composers including Schubert and Liszt.

Featuring

Rudolf Buchbinder
Ludwig van Beethoven
Lera Auerbach
Brett Dean
Toshio Hosokawa
Christian Jost

Brad Lubman
Philippe Manoury
Max Richter
Rodion Shchedrin
Johannes Maria Staud
Tan Dun
Jörg Widmann
Anton Diabelli

Did you know?

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Composition History

Anton Diabelli, a publisher, launched a project in 1819 by sending his waltz to 'the foremost tone poets and virtuosi of Vienna and the Austrian States' to compose a variation on it.

Performer Biography

Rudolf Buchbinder, the pianist on this album, received the score for Beethoven's Diabelli Variations 60 years ago from his piano teacher Bruno Seidlhofer, who called him 'Burli'.

Compositional Technique

Beethoven's Variation 22 transforms Diabelli's theme into a caricature of Leporello's aria 'Notte e giorno faticar' from Mozart's Don Giovanni.

Album & Artwork

This album includes 'New Variations on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli' commissioned by Rudolf Buchbinder from eleven contemporary composers, reflecting a 21st-century parallel to Diabelli's original project.

Interpretation

Rudolf Buchbinder's interpretation of the Diabelli Variations has evolved over decades, becoming more spontaneous and flexible after living with Beethoven's music and studying various editions.

Composition History

Ludwig van Beethoven initially refused to participate in Diabelli's project, dismissing the waltz as a 'Schusterfleck' (cobbler's patch), but later composed 33 variations.