Variations sérieuses

Featuring

Lilit Grigoryan
Ferruccio Busoni
Ludwig van Beethoven
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Georges Bizet
Karol Szymanowski

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Performer Biography

Lilit Grigoryan, the pianist on this album, was an Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium from 2012 to 2016, under the direction of Maria João Pires.

Composer Biography

Busoni, who transcribed Bach's Chaconne for piano, had his piano lessons with his father dominated by Bach's music.

Composition History

Mendelssohn's Variations sérieuses were written as a tribute to Beethoven at the request of Viennese publisher Pietro Mechetti, who compiled an 'Album-Beethoven' to raise money for a monument to Beethoven.

Compositional Technique

J.S. Bach's Chaconne, from his D minor Partita for solo violin, features 64 variations and is longer than the rest of the Partita's movements combined.

Composition History

Bizet's Variations chromatiques de concert, influenced by Beethoven's 32 Variations, were composed in 1868 but not published until 1953.

Composer's Artistic Vision

The album explores the art of varying a theme, a technique most composers attempt to hone their craft or deeply explore a melody's elements.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Mendelssohn chose the title 'Variations sérieuses' to distance his composition from frivolous virtuosic variations and align it with the weightier traditions of Bach and Beethoven.