ECM Andras Schiff - Beethoven: Diabelli-Variationen

2012

Andras Schiff - pian

Ludwig van Beethoven:
Diabelli-Variationen Op. 120
Sonate Nr. 32 In C-Moll Op. 111
Sechs Bagatellen Op. 126

Beethovens Diabelli Variations are considered a magnum opus of the piano repertoire, a towering contribution to the genre and an entire Encyclopedia of pianism.

Following his monumental exploration of the 32 Sonatas, Andras Schiff has now recorded - on two period instruments remarkable, contrasting versions of the Diabelli Variations alongside major late works with intrinsic ties to them. The Sonata Op. 111 and the Diabelli Variations (CD 1) are played on an original Bechstein grand from 1921, and the second reading of the Diabelli Variations,(paired with the op. 126 Bagatelles on CD2) on a Hammerflugel fortepiano from Beethovens own day. This gives listeners a unique opportunity to compare the rich range of these highly contrasting sonic universes, a world apart from modern day instruments.

In his liner note Andras Schiff acknowledges the value of having been able to consult the previously unknown original manuscript of the Variations which provided invaluable insight into Beethovens compositional process and intentions.


The predictably penetrating, intense playing of the mighty Diabellis on this disc is to be expected from Andras Schiff, but there's a twist: he does them twice, first on a 1921 Bechstein and then on a Hammerflügel fortepiano from Beethoven's era. The result is a primer on pianism, rounded out by Beethoven's final piano sonata and the Opus 126 Bagatelles.
Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times

Both discs are enthralling. In the sleeve notes Schiff makes an eloquent case for resisting what he sees as the ‘globalisation’ of piano music, in which everything is played on a Steinway. […] Anyone who heard the Wigmore recitals will recognise the cool clarity of the sound the Bechstein makes and the elegance Schiff achieves with it, whether in the transcendence of the last movement of Op 111 or the quicksilver changes of mood in the variations, but it’s the version of the Diabelli on the 19th-century instrument that is the more remarkable.
That performance revels in the very lack of homogeneity in the soundworld of the instrument itself, with its distinctly different character in each register, and with the ability to change those characteristics using the four pedals. Balances and perspectives shift constantly within the music, and Schiff exploits the effects quite wonderfuly – thinning the sound to a silvery thread with the una corda pedal, producing a wonderfully veiled quality in the middle registers with the moderator, or a snarling buzz in the bass with the bassoon. The whole world of the variations opens out.
Andrew Clements, The Guardian
 
No pianist has a greater awareness of sound-colour than András Schiff. Here, he experiments by twice giving beautifully shaped readings of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, that extraordinariy wide-ranging sequence of fantasies: once on a Franz Brodmann fortepiano of 1820, once on a Bechstein grand of 1921. Each instrument shines its distinctive light on this music.
Stephen Pettitt, Sunday Times

The two-disc set is a richly nuanced look at late Beethoven (it also includes Beethoven’s last sonata, Opus 111, played on the piano and his Bagatelles, Opus 126, on the historic fortepiano). This is a Beethoven reaching for spiritual heights, conveying hair-pulling emotional drama, envisioning a music of the future of new sounds and complexities and also fooling around like the goofy genius he also was. Schiff, in what is likely to be the standout Beethoven recording of the year, misses nothing.
Mark Swed, The Los Angeles Times

He plays Beethoven’s ‘Diabelli Variations’ twice, once on a 1921 Bechstein and again on a Franz Brodmann fortepiano circa 1820, an instrument in awesomely good condition. The differences are fascinating. The Bechstein offers fairly even brilliance across its range: Diabelli’s theme trots like a glittering circus pony. The Brodmann colours are more mysterious, with greater subtleties in light and shade, generously displayed across the ‘Variations’ as well as Beethoven’s Six Bagetelles.
Yet either piano’s textures and reverberations would mean little without Schiff’s artistry and intelligence. The ‘Diabelli Variations’ have never seemed so playfully filled with irony, comic pratfalls and the wild goose chase. Whatever instrument he uses, Schiff rewards the closest listening.
Geoff Brown, The Times

The new ECM double album is groundbreaking in two way: firstly Schiff here extends his visionary interpretations of Beethoven already attested to in the recent ECM sonata cycle to this late masterpiece, offering the listener the treat of enjoying his profound expressive insights and structural command, especially of contrapuntal textures. Secondly, Schiff’s quest to liberate our ears and widen our awareness of and response to a wider pianistic palette than usually offered in conventional recordings made on certain modern concert grand pianos is here taken a stage further. In the Beethoven cycle Schiff played on both a Bösendorfer and a Steinway, yet here he is even more radical in presenting two complete  performances of the Diabelli on two pianos from the past. [...] this is riveting listening – like a good thriller one does not want to interrupt the thought flow, through to the last three variations. For the achievement here is Schiff’s steady yet always involving exploration of the thematic development towards the profound and monumental final variations, that brings Diabelli’s ‘cobbler’s patch’ to its sublime realisation.
Malcom Miller, Piano Journal