infotext:
Diabelli Variations The art of variation has always been considered the highest in the history of music. And that Beethoven's genius was never surpassed by anyone else is well known and accepted. But how is it then that his most interesting, greatest and most profound piano work is based on a harmless little waltz by Anton Diabelli, which Beethoven derisively called the 'theme with the cobbler's mark' because of a rather banal seventh chord shift? Was it perhaps his concern to show that a great creative mind can be ignited by every little thing? That the most inconspicuous musical cell can be torn from enthusiastic improvisational and compositional development work to the boldest interpretation of the world? What is certain is that Beethoven's entire late work is reflected overwhelmingly clearly in the Diabelli Variations and that everyone who knows this music is enraptured by the audacity of the solutions, by the richness of inspiration, by the exuberance of expression, the outrageous perfection of simple solutions and, last but not least, the pianistic one Virtuosity that is literally accompanied by ›virtus‹ on all levels. What troubles a modern composer who, under such conditions, with similarly high standards and driven by the furor of egocentric, exegetical excesses, commits the sacrilege of composing another 33 variations on this 'Schusterfleck Theme' without feeling threatened? – The belief that all philosophy is in the air and one only has to reach for it to capture it in music. So if I believe that I owe culture-bearing humanity such sincere self-examination in order not to be crucified by them, I am also hypocritical, because this species has my trust only marginally. But I consider my Diabelli Variations to be something special and, despite my profound knowledge of Beethoven's work, which I play myself, to be completely independent of the main work. They are devoid of any individual positioning, truly improvisational ›pulled out of thin air‹, free of taste, without style, absolutely unscrupulous artistically, not ›modern‹ at all, but perhaps modern as a result, entirely due to my adolescence, in the order wildly jumbled, full of style-quoting wrist exercises that involve many a deceased colleague in the gesture and thus invite a guessing game. Franz Hummel
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program:
CD 1
Franz Hummel (* 1939)
33 Variations on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli (2006–2007)
[01] Theme. Vivace and variation 1 02:25
[02] Change 2 Presto 01:21
[03] Variation 3 Adagio cantabile 02:45
[04] Change 4 00:57
[05] Change 5 Allegro entusiastico 01:16
[06] Change 6 Con allegrezza 01:40
[07] Variation 7 Presto, almost studio 01:20
[08] Change 8 01:31
[09] Variation 9 Feroce 00:49
[10] Change 10 00:46
[11] Change 11 Adagio cantabile 02:31
[12] Change 12 Presto 01:11
[13] Change 13 Perennial 01:01
[14] Change 14 Molto rubato, passionato, parlando 04:09
[15] Change 15 01:12
[16] Variation 16 Allegro molto 01:25
[17] Change 17 Ländler. Commodo 01:52
[18] Change 18 Presto 00:55
[19] Change 19 Fierce 01:12
[20] Change 20 00:47
[21] Change 21 tempestoso 01:49
[22] Change 22 Allegro con brio 00:58
[23] Variation 23 Intermezzo nostalgic. largo 04:13
[24] Variation 24 Allegro molto 00:47
[25] Variation 25 Allegro 00:50
[26] Change 26 01:59
[27] Variation 27 (Aria) Larghetto 02:39
[28] Variation 28 (Marcia funebre) 05:10
[29] Variation 29 (Toccata) 02:00
[30] Variation 30 Quasi Presto 01:23
[31] Change 31 01:17
[32] Variation 32 prestissimo 00:37
[33] Variation 33 02:20
total time: 57:09
CD 2
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
33 Variations on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli (1819–1823)
op. 120 in C major
[01] Theme. Vivace and Variation I Alla Marcia maestoso 02:11
[02] Variation II Poco Allegro 00:51
[03] Variation III L'istesso tempo 01:24
[04] Variation IV Un poco più vivace 01:02
[05] Variation V Allegro vivace 00:56
[06] Variation VI Allegro ma non troppo e serioso 01:50
[07] Variation VII A poco più allegro 01:18
[08] Variation VIII Poco vivace 01:18
[09] Variation IX Allegro pesante e risoluto 01:38
[10] Variation X Presto 00:38
[11] Variation XI Allegretto 01:10
[12] Variation XII A poco più moto 00:50
[13] Variation XIII Vivace 01:12
[14] Variation XIV Grave e maestoso 03:22
[15] Variation XV Presto scherzando 00:37
[16] Variation XVI Allegro 01:01
[17] Variation XVIII 01:03
[18] Variation XVIII Poco moderato 01:33
[19] Variation XIX Presto 00:55
[20] Variation XX Andante 02:25
[21] Variation XXI Allegro con brio 01:29
[22] Variation XXII Allegro molto (alla “Notte e giorno faticar” di Mozart) 00:53
[23] Variation XXIII Allegro assai 00:54
[24] Variation XXIV Fughetta. Andante 03:07
[25] Variation XXV Allegro 00:42
[26] Variation XXVI 01:01
[27] Variation XXVII Vivace 01:01
[28] Variation XXVIII Allegro 00:59
[29] Variation XXIX Adagio ma non troppo 01:08
[30] Variation XXX Andante, semper cantabile 02:11
[31] Variation XXXI Largo, molto espressivo 03:48
[32] Variation XXXII Fugue. Allegro 02:58
[33] Variation XXXIII Tempo di Menuetto moderato (ma non tirarsi dietro) 03:04
total time; 50:27
Carmen Piazzinipiano
Press:
02.01.2010
11/12.2009
33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli
Just as was the case with Beethoven himself (after he initially, angrily rejected Diabelli's music), this quirky waltz, and especially Beethoven's subsequent explosion of creativity, continues to bore into our imaginations. Franz Hummel, a German composer and pianist born in 1939, set his own blast of inspiration to paper in 2007. It is, primarily, an homage to Beethoven, beginning with precisely the same subject, having the same number of variations, and following the same sensitive admixture of energetic, violent, playful, and contemplative selections (which, in turn, Beethoven followed from Bach, in his Goldberg Variations).
But Hummel is not imitative as a rule. He finds an adept balance of tribute and innovation, including nods to post-Beethoven masters. Hummel weaves elements of other composers into the mix without utilizing outright quotes; the skeleton of a Chopin etude is revealed, a ghost from Beethoven's Eighth Symphony hovers, there is a suggestion of Brahms. Elsewhere, we hear boogie-woogie and jazzy improvisation. Hummel cannot hope to equal, let alone exceed the ever-stunning range of drama and emotion of the master, not to mention the sheer originality of his language. That he comes close to evoking that spirit, in his own voice, is a considerable accomplishment.
It might seem like a natural idea to include the Beethoven original side by side with the new work. The Argentinean pianist Carmen Piazzini plays the music of both composers with the requisite virtuosity and passion, without quite latching onto the mystery, playfulness, and wild energy that is evinced in the recordings of the Beethoven by Brendel, Peter Serkin, and Richter. It may have made sense for NEOS to produce this as a single disc with the Hummel only, on the assumption that almost anyone with an interest in hearing it will already own at least one version of the Beethoven. This presentation, while not as economical, does make the comparison a bit more convenient, and we get the music from the same pianist, for whatever that is worth. In any case, the Hummel is fascinating and compelling, recommended especially to admirers of the Beethoven.
Peter Burwasser
18.11.09
Old and new finger breakers
…Erika Haase’s colleague Carmen Piazzini, also a Darmstadt resident, takes part here. In their lucid, thoughtful piano style, which repeatedly builds up to a controlled, virtuoso joy of playing, they reveal the common school of the Swedish pianist Hans Leygraf. Carmen Piazzini has also presented a double CD with a striking program. Their special attraction are the Diabelli Variations - well, the ones by Beethoven, but they are delivered as a 50-minute encore, so to speak, and act as a counterpart to the completely new ones by Franz Hummel (the composer of the King Ludwig musical). The strong piece allowed the Beethovenian hammering and knocking on the coarse, pitiful “Schusterfleck” Diabelli to be trumped in his parade of 33 masterpieces with some finger-breaking acrobatics. Hummel wisely does not imitate Beethoven's strange climax to the cycle with a (quasi-old-fashioned) fugue and minuet-like aria; his conclusion of a jazzoid devil dance corresponds to a compositional attitude that remembers the past more with all-rounder than with dialectical depth.
Hans Klaus Jungheinrich
III/IV/2009
22.04.09
hell fix
Franz Hummel mocks Beethoven with brand new Diabelli Variations
Beethoven, Franz Hummel parries the self-accusation of arrogance in the conversation, was only 56, “and I was 70 in January, so he has nothing to say to me.” Thanks to a waltz by the Viennese publisher Diabelli, the “old” Beethoven came up with a monstrous 33 piano variations - the brilliantly unabashed Hummel, former pianist, now composer, at least of the Ludwig II musical or a Gorbachev opera, follows suit exactly. Claims that his Diabelli Variations are “devoid of taste, without style, without conscience, entirely due to my adolescence”. On the double CD (Neos, 2009), the Argentinian Carmen Piazzini plays both the Beethoven cycle and the brand new variations by Hummel, also 33 in number, with confidence, virtuosity and sharp fingers, a compendium of joyful compositional self-assertion lasting one hour. Listening becomes an auditory adventure because Hummel poaches through music history with his diabolical imagination. In Variation No. 8 he does it with Beethoven's Eighth Symphony and in No. 23 with the Liszt Sonata, he poisons Chopin etude granules or seeks out lyrical-philosophical escapades. Hummel combines truly Beethovenian depth, raging humor, chutzpah and charisma. Indulges in passage, chord and syncopation rage. Who is afraid of such confusion? Not even Hummel himself: “I just have to please myself, and my narcissism is enough for that.” WOLFGANG SCHREIBER