Brahms - Handel Variations [Schiff]

This is the very first time i've ever played this disc, and it's a beaut, it's a live recording, but recorded better than a lot of studio recordings, the audience are really quiet, but of course applaud at the end of the disc, and it's a great programme too, the Reger Variations are a welcome addition to my disc library, this is the first time i've ever listened to them, and they'll take some more listenings to get into, Reger is certainly a thick textured Composer, he really takes time to get to like, Schiff's Brahms is great stuff though.

Andras Schiff is Hungarian, now 61, originally a Pianist, but now he does conducting too, the booklet cover is fantastic, a picture of Schiff at the keyboard, superb highlights on the edges of his portrait, and his lettering in red, and the composers in silver, mimicking the Teldec logo below, this disc is now getting really rare, and it's good to have secured a copy at a reasonable price.

This was a wonderful experience, quite possibly my favourite Piano Variations of all time, and it was variations 4, 6, 12, 18-22 & 24-F that i found most rewarding, and just like last month with Gelber / Brahms, it's this clump near the end that got to me the most of all, variations 18-22, here's a synopsis of each,
Variation 18 [14:51-15:46] - Lovely treble tinkling's, nicely pronounced, lovely tune too, Schiff really caresses the thing.
Variation 19 [15:47-16:49] - An almost lazy carefree variation, again it's a marvel how Brahms uses the treble registers, also it hit me how incredibly good the piano is recorded here, rather than a front seat in the audience, you get the front seat, the piano stool!.
Variation 20 [16:49-17:51] - A duller variation, i guess done on purpose by Brahms to break up the monotony, but it ends in a touching thoughtful way, getting sweeter / calmer as the piece goes on.
Variation 21 [17:52-18:40] - Lovely rippling piano in the treble, mimicking water, one of my favourite variations, clear and crisp.
Variation 22 [18:41-19:42] - Very coda-esque, sounds like the day coming to a close, the treble notes are just so chiming / rhyming, no bass notes here, even the left hand is in the middle of the keyboard, certainly on this listening, it was the best variation of all, it really touched me.

Here's Schiff playing the Handel Variations on YouTube.

Brahms - Handel Variations [Gelber]

This is a disc i've recently acquired, and this is it's maiden voyage, it's a recent series of re-issues done by Warner of their back catalogue, this one caught my eye with gorgeous photography of a park gate by Dariush Mohammadi, beautiful autumn colours, i know the Handel Variations very well, just doing a count, i find six different discs in my Blog alone, the work is endlessly fascinating, one of Brahms's greatest works ever, and 25 minutes of pure excitement and bliss.

On this disc Bruno Leonardo Gelber is new to me, he's Argentinian, now 73 years old, he looks like a cross between Evgeny Kissin and Liberace!, he recorded fairly extensively for Denon in his earlier years, producing a full cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas, but hasn't recorded for years now, he even recorded the Handel Variations later for Denon in 1992, which is a different performance, and one that i'd like to check out as well.

Like i say, these variations are endlessly fascinating, on the whole i found Gelber to be a slow Pianist, even though comparing his timings to my two favourite versions of this work [Ax / Sony & Osorio / ASV], they both take exactly 26:10, so only half a minute quicker!, maybe he just 'sounds' slower, but he's also enlightening, i always learn something new from another performance.

On this listen i loved variations 14, 19-22, 25 and the Fugue at the end, so it's this clump of variations near the end that really got me going, and this is what i find about Variations, certainly the Handel variations inparticular, each variation doesn't stand alone, but in essence each variation has its own 'prelude & postlude', the variation before, and the variation after, they're all linked, each variation prepares you for the next one, here's a synopsis of this 'clump' of variations,
Variation 19 [15:52-16:51] - I notice the staccato tendency of Gelber here, a reflective variation of nobility, i guess he needs a little bit more poise, a little quieter would have done wonders, but it's an 'aching' variation, love the way Gelber slowly works his way up into the treble.
Variation 20 [16:52-18:01] - An even slower variation, but something that 'glues' this clump of variations together, again a slow traverse up the keyboard.
Variation 21 [18:03-18:56] - A truly superb variation, trills of delight, the right hand chimes so well, the 1977 recording captured so well.
Variation 22 [18:58-20:00] - An aching variation that seems to be the announcement to the final of these variations, the most delicious chimes, Gelber gets this right, you should never play this variation too loud, there's an aching nostalgia about it.

Here's Gelber playing the Handel Variations on YouTube.

Brahms - Handel Variations [Tanyel] 

It was years ago i owned this disc as a cassette tape, and it was as this cassette that i first got to know these two works, and of course i fell in love with Piano variations through this, well it's only been recently that i've acquired this on disc at last, and it certainly takes me back to those wonderful days when these works were new to me, Tanyel has a certain way which i love, and it wasn't merely that the works themselves were great, the Beethoven work i haven't actually heard for quite a while, surprising really as it's so good, the Brahms work i hear quite often [as my Blog can testify], if you look at the back insert you can see that each of the variations aren't cued separately, this can be somewhat annoying, but i wrote down the timings and therefore i can know what variation i'm on, all told this is a lovely set to renew my acquaintance with, and a logical but strangely rare coupling.

Seta Tanyel is Armenian / Turkish, not sure her age, and this was recorded in 1989, the front cover picture is very nice, with Tanyel sitting at the piano, nicely lighted with a dark background.

A tremendous number of these variations really excited me, and i guess this is one of the points of variations [and not just for variety!], but that each variation will give a different angle to the theme, so a couple of dozen different viewpoints actually causes us to get deeper into the essence of the theme, rather like 25 people all giving their personal experience about a person, you really get to know what they're like, plus each variation takes you on a journey, and each subsequent variation adds / substantiates that journey, they build on each other, rather like a relay race where each runner passes the baton to the next, the Variations i liked the best were 8, 11-12, 14-15, 18-19, 21-23 & 25, they seem to come in clumps, certain variations prepare you for the next, so for instance variation 15 has as an 'intro' variation 14, the same can apply to 'outro' also, two variations side by side can be greater than the sum of their parts, here's a short synopsis of each variation,

Variation 8 [7:52] - A fairly complex Variation, almost like a Fugue, nicely sped up compared to the previous variation, a fairly frantic 39 seconds.
Variation 11 [10:39] - I love these more gentle variations, where lovely ringing sounds permeate the air, the second half of the variation has the left hand taking over the melody.
Variation 12 [11:47] - And straight afterwards a complementary variation that builds on the last, nice treble / legato work from Tanyel in the right hand.
Variation 14 [14:48] - A real scamper of a variation, playfully squealing away, the treble work is nicely executed.
Variation 15 [15:27] - A more serious and hard hitting variation, with some hard exclamation points throughout in the bass, and then in the second half those exclamations continue high in the right hand.
Variation 18 [17:32] - Another gentle and slower variations, sweetly and casually done, superb treble notes, like stars twinkling in the sky, i like the way Tanyel gradually slows it down at the end, giving it more of a tease / gravitas.
Variation 19 [18:30] - Casually done, it's longer than usual [1:27], and benefits from the last variation as it sounds like its more serious cousin, or maybe grown up perspective.
Variation 21 [20:57] - This is my favourite variation on this listen, truly beautiful, lovely ringing and trills galore, the right hand adds a nice backdrop, sounds like a fountain bursting forth its sparkling water.
Variation 22 [21:59] - And right after there's what i call the 'musical box' variation, and 21 & 22 are such superb companions, it's with this variation i feel there's a sort of coda-ish feel, as if Brahms is bringing the work to a close, you get the same feeling towards the end of Bach's Goldberg Variations.
Variation 23 [23:06] - And the last three variations give a whirlwind virtuosity before the Fugue kicks in, a nice stamping variation, blocks of notes.
Variation 25 [24:17] - The final variation has well... a certain finality to it!, one last shout of exclamation, one last showing off, loads of notes, a pure indulgence of virtuosity.

Here's Seta Tanyel playing the Handel Variations on YouTube, the timings above refer to this video.

Bach - Goldberg Variations [Perahia] 

Another listen to this wonderful disc [19th August 2010], and one of my favourite Pianists, however i always seem to have reservations about him, his Chopin Ballades for instance, i don't see what all the fuss is about, he concentrates very heavily on Bach, i'm not always in agreement with the repertoire he chooses, but his decision to do more Brahms is very welcome indeed, there's certainly a bit of 'staccato tendency' about Perahia, certain variations have a bent towards staccato, where a more legato approach would have worked so well, but there's invention aplenty here, and with a variety of thirty variations to play with, there's a mesmerising number of approaches that can be thrilling, and Perahia remains very much at the service of the spirit of Bach, lovely recoding sound to boot as well.

Murray Perahia is American, but living in London i believe, he's now 65, and he recorded this disc in 2000, the front cover photograph [by Ken Schles] is an inspired one, i take it it's photographed in his home, with his own piano, a shot where he's very much in shadow, not a silhouette, but not far off, a nice line of light down the right hand side, and a good use of the out of focus foreground piano, and especially the piano lid prop, behind in the background there's the open window, with washed out light, it's a great study in extremes.

On this listen i especially enjoyed Variations 5, 8, 10 & 14, and i would like to explain each one in more detail,

Variation 5 [10:28] - A fast variation, with a certain kind of stuttering main melody in the right hand, and a fast up and down the keyboard backing in the left hand, and it's the odd treble stabbing notes in the middle that are so affecting [0:30-0:32 & 0:46-0:48], just the lovely way that Bach uses legato and this stuttering staccato at the same time to wonderful effect, must be a demon for Perahia to play.
Variation 8 [15:04] - Another stuttering variation, this time the bass notes are staggered in such a way that it's as if Perahia is only playing every other note, and the mid keyboard warbling of the right hand is delicious [0:00-0:12], and hands change over in the melody / backing, the whole thing is just delightful, you don't want it to end, this could have been made into a piece of music all by itself.
Variation 10 [19:07] - A piece of ingenious trills, really it's a fugue, and listening to the many different voices in all areas of the keyboard, it's like a Barbershop Quartet in different voices, very majestic indeed.
Variation 14 [29:44] - The very opening notes sound like they come from Philip Glass's Metamorphosis, it's just something he would do, and they sound fantastic, again it's full of trills, bass and treble trills seem to play at will, there's staccato there, but the most fantastic things about this variation is the combination of trills and moving down the keyboard in the right hand [0:15-0:23], now that's terrific, that sounds so exciting, and when it comes back again it's just an immense wow [0:46-0:53], the left and right hands sound as if they're talking all over each other, but they making so much sense, like two twins that finish each others sentences, it's as if they're psychic, another two of these excellent trills also delight us [1:17-1:24 & 1:48-1:55], this time more central keyboard, a complex piece that sounds so obvious, but it took Bach to reveal it to us, probably my favourite variation on this listen.

Here's Murray Perahia playing the whole Goldberg variations on YouTube, the timings after each variation in yellow above, are where each variation lies in this video.

Beethoven - Diabelli Variations [Brendel] 

It's hard to believe that this is the first time that Brendel's Diabelli gets in my Blog, this is a major recording, and the version that i truly got to know the Diabelli with, way back in 1993, of course other Diabelli's have crept in to supplement and expand my view of these evergreen Variations, but this is a touchstone set, silly and flippant at first [the Diabelli theme is no great masterpiece], but Beethoven twists and distorts it into so many shapes, that you can't help marvel at some of the things he does with it, of course some of the Variations are barely over half a minute long [Variation 15 is 37 seconds long], but most are nearer the minute mark [21 of the 33 variations], making it unlike say Bach's Goldberg or Brahms's Handel, short pithy ideas, and yet at times full of profoundness, and at last it develops a seriousness and depth to it, what a transformation from beginning to end.

Alfred Brendel is Austrian, now 81 years old and retired from playing, he recorded this disc in 1988, the front cover shows a photograph [by Alecio De Andrade], of Brendel on a park bench, not the greatest of shots, but the lettering is nicely lined up on the wall.

The Variations that i loved the most were 7, 10, 16-17, 19, 23-25 & 27, with the very best three being 10, 17 & 23, and i would like to give my thoughts and feeling on Brendel's interpretation of these three.

Variation 10 [13:01] - One of the shortest Variations, only 41 seconds long, a jumpy and warbling Presto, full of staccato, but slightly veering toward a more legato towards the end, very much in the treble part of the keyboard, sounds like a Variation very much in a hurry, become louder and louder, a fair treble outburst at the end.
Variation 17 [7:22] - Almost the big brother of Variation 10, left hand bass beating out a march, right hand treble frantic and whining, rather like an arguing Husband and Wife!.
Variation 23 [0:41] - A lovely scampering Variation, only 47 seconds long, bass note outbursts, with the right hand trilling and all over the place, imagine a cockroach darting all over the place, and someone trying to whack it with a shoe!, you get the idea, it was my favourite of the whole lot, and the soft and gorgeous tones of the next Variation are the perfect antidote, they go so well together.

The timings after the Variations refer to the YouTube videos to which they refer.

Bach - Goldberg Variations [Schiff] 

This is a truly inspired work, and yet it's not greatly represented in my Blog, this is its fourth appearance, and Schiff on Decca was a version i grew up with, i really love the way Schiff interprets this work, he has a newer Goldberg Variation that he recorded for ECM, and i bought this disc also, and not wanting to have two separate discs kicking around, i amalgamated them into one case here, and it's this newer ECM recording that i listened to and i'm reporting here, i find it very much the same, very slight differences in fact, they are about 20 years apart, Schiff was 30 and 50 respectively.

Andras Schiff is Hungarian, he's now 58, he recorded this disc [ECM] in 2003, it's a live recording, the Decca front cover [by Peter Schaaf] shows Schiff leaning on the side of his piano, hands clasped, white bow tie, half of the photo covered by the piano lid, which conveniently makes a place for the lettering, i like the shadows of dark and light on Schiff, one other thing, the Decca recording has only six tracks, of roughly five variations each, so i rubbed some transfers on the back inlay so that i know where i am, the ECM recording has separate tracks for each variation.

I must admit i enjoyed this interpretation very much, but i also admit that it's not as great as his Decca recording, the variations i enjoyed the most were 5, 8, 19-20 & 29, and here's a short synopsis of these variations,
Variation 5 [7:13] - A nice rolling yet chugging Variation, it has a lovely flow to it, the hands must be going mad, fast passagework in sixteenths.
Variation 8 [0:00] - A nice loud variation, not unlike the Fifth, yes it is in fact the twin of the Fifth, fast passagework again, with hand crossings and large octave leaps, Schiff plays it fast, and it's really thrilling.
Variation 19 [0:00] - A nice Morse code Variation, fairly muted, nice and lyrical, Schiff uses some clever little touches which brightens things up on the piano that wouldn't work on the Harpsichord.
Variation 20 [1:02] - This is where Schiff gets quite individual, and quite different in some ways to his Decca recording, but i like it, he is more staccato, especially in the repeat of the opening [0:26-0:39], a sort of staccato boogie of the original!, further on in the Variation there's some tremendous virtuoso runs up and down the keyboard.
Variation 29 [0:00] - Almost to the end, and there's a sort of finality about the last couple of Variations, and here the virtuosity is absolutely brilliant, Schiff really gives it a send off, fast arpeggios and runs, all those notes on the page must be very daunting for lesser Pianists, and the longer the Variation goes on the more and more notes that come screaming at you, now that's very satisfying musically, probably the best Variation of all on this listen.

The links are to YouTube with Glenn Gould playing the Goldberg Variations, the timings after each Variation is where in the YouTube video the Variation starts.

Beethoven - Diabelli Variations [Frith] 

Another new Diabelli Variations, this one is by Benjamin Frith, and it's highly rated in some quartets, it's available as a cheap reissue as part of the Quicksilver series on ASV, but these original discs are so much better, it's hard to form a definite opinion on only one listen, it takes a while to really get into an album, plus i don't have any other links to Frith, i don't know him at all, but it was good to get a different take on this famous work. 

Benjamin Frith is English, and he was born in 1957, he made this recording in 1991, like i said about the Quicksilver reissue above, this is the original with a picture of Frith on the front [which looks strikingly similar to a Brahms disc by Jorge Federico Osorio], it's a great pic, Frith leaning into his piano, very nicely balanced.

On this listen it was variations 7, 24-25 & 29 i loved the most, here's a synopsis of each,
Variation 7 - a nice complex Variation, using both the high treble, and the low bass, it has a certain ebb and flow to it, i love that ringing in the treble, there's a tenseness / franticness that makes the piece jumble up somewhat.
Variation 24 - entitled Fughetta, it's a gentle variation, where the earlier playful world of tossing around Diabelli's silly Waltz is left behind, for something more serious, there's a gravitas here, it's not a showpiece Fugue like you would get from Bach, those opening notes tolling [0:00-0:05], just so lovely, and the delicateness of the notes that follow, most of the variations are around the one minute mark, but this lasts not far off three, very substantial.
Variation 25 - the Variation right after is a schizophrenic affair, the right hand stutters and staccatos a sort of offbeat, while the left hand blabbers away all legato, both seemingly trying to put each other off!, a lovely jumbled Variation. 
Variation 29 - this variation gets all serious, as Beethoven gets further and further away from the original theme, it almost sounds like a funeral march at first, quite a dirge, but it has a majestic air to it, there's a sadness in there too.

The YouTube links on each Variation are from Brendel, and it's helpful that each one can be cued.