Beethoven. Diabelli Variations. Op. 120

[Mandryka]

Regarding the false claim in one of the questions posed to Staier, the Demus, Battersby, Cooper and Komen recordings all predate the Staier, though none of them had the access to the manuscript that Staier had. Oh, and beware, Variariation 23 in the Staier might get you jumping out of your seat.

Is this Demus one (which has become impossible to find!) different from this?

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/beethoven-sonate-waldstein-variations-diabelli-beethoven-sonate-waldstein-variations-diabelli/0884385827502

[visualnickmos]

A few years Uchida performed the Diabelli and afterwards gave a lecture on her approach to the work. I saw her in Cambridge but I think she repeated it at various venues. Unfortunately It is not a work that I have lived with for donkeys years so have no other versions in my head with which to compare her interpretation, but as a novice I found her approach captivating as is almost everything that she plays.

Have to say I'm not really a fan of Uchida - given that I've only heard her Mozart recordings, but would like to hear her Diabelli Vars. She is fabulous in Debussy, though.

[Bryn]

Is this Demus one (which has become impossible to find!) different from this?

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/be.../0884385827502

Yes, as I recall, though the timings are very similar. However, the Eloquence issue appears to be downloadable, albeit in lossy data compression, from https://music.apple.com/au/album/145...ct=catchall_p1

Looks like I should back up the Eloquence Demus discs a.s.a.p. I wonder why they were removed from their catalogue?

[cloughie]

Yes, as I recall, though the timings are very similar. However, the Eloquence issue appears to be downloadable, albeit in lossy data compression, from https://music.apple.com/au/album/145...ct=catchall_p1

Not available at Apple!

[Bryn]

Not available at Apple!

Hmm. I wonder whether some rights issues cropped up? All current links I have found lead to dead ends.

[cloughie]

Hmm. I wonder whether some rights issues cropped up? All current links I have found lead to dead ends.

It is deleted from the Eloquence catalogue and not available as a download from Presto either!

Can stream from Spotify or Deezer!

[Bryn]

It is deleted from the Eloquence catalogue and not available as a download from Presto either!

Can stream from Spotify or Deezer!

I have long been puzzled by the SBS logo associated with Eloquence on this and some other Eloquence issues. I now find it appears to stand for Australia's "Special Broadcasting Service". Perhaps that connection has something to do with the removal from the Eloquence catalogue.

[Mandryka]

Can stream from Spotify !

I can't, or from Qobuz. I may be able to buy it from Qobuz, but I don't want to.

[Bryn]

I can't, or from Qobuz. I may be able to buy it from Qobuz, but I don't want to.

I don't think you can buy it from QOBUZ, either, despite initial indications to the contrary. Now successfully backed up to both hard disc and USB stick (the latter as FLACs) here. I think the version coupled with the “Waldstein” may be from the same original recording, after all, just with slightly different editing of the variations. The timings are just so close. You do, though, lose the selection of other composers' variations. However, the Staier CD has the best of them. Another shock with the Staier is the final chord of Op. 120. He did have access to Beethoven's annotated manuscript, however. Not one for those wedded to the modern Steinway, thouigh.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I recently purchased the new Mitsuko Uchida recording of this masterpiece having heard her play it at the Edinburgh Festival three years ago. It’s a work I really struggle with and I’d hoped this new recording might give me an appreciation of it. However, it’s just not working for me.

I ordered the Uchida cd from Presto along with a cd that’s not released until the beginning of May so I’m still awaiting the physical disc but I have been listening to it repeatedly on my iPhone whilst doing particularly mind numbing tasks while on night shift at my place of employment. Not the best environment to gain appreciation of one of the great masterpieces but it’s what I’ve got.

My next move is to borrow the music from the public library where perhaps the eye will assist the ear. What am I not getting about this piece? Goodness knows, I love the piano sonatas so this should be easy.

My blind spot is the Goldberg Variations - I find it a tad monotonous. Is your problem with the Diabelli that it can sound a bit ugly ? Esp if the player is (not Uchida though ) a bit of a piano basher?

[MickyD]

I have long been puzzled by the SBS logo associated with Eloquence on this and some other Eloquence issues. I now find it appears to stand for Australia's "Special Broadcasting Service". Perhaps that connection has something to do with the removal from the Eloquence catalogue.

When I was out there in the 80s, SBS was a sort of Channel 4 TV station in Australia, but looks like they have moved into other areas as well.

I'm glad I snapped up the Demus/Eloquence release when I did. In addition, a second disc provided examples of the Diabelli theme set by other contemporary composers of Beethoven, all very fascinating.

[Bryn]

When I was out there in the 80s, SBS was a sort of Channel 4 TV station in Australia, but looks like they have moved into other areas as well.

I'm glad I snapped up the Demus/Eloquence release when I did. In addition, a second disc provided examples of the Diabelli theme set by other contemporary composers of Beethoven, all very fascinating.

Have heard the Staier, either the CD or one of the broadcast concert performances on his Graf copy? It might raise a few hackles with those resistant to historical pianos but his study of the manuscript with the composer's annotations opened up a good many departures from the 'norm'.

[MickyD]

Have heard the Staier, either the CD or one of the broadcast concert performances on his Graf copy? It might raise a few hackles with those resistant to historical pianos but his study of the manuscript with the composer's annotations opened up a good many departures from the 'norm'.

No, Bryn, I confess it is still on my shopping list and really must get hold of it - of all early pianos, the Grafs are the ones that I find the most alluring, such beautiful ethereal sounds. Richard Burnett recorded a lot on his original instrument, too, at Finchcocks. Another set of discs I really like are the Beethoven violin sonatas with Schroder and Jos Van Immerseel - he plays on an 1824 Graf and the DHM recording is so much to my taste.

[Bryn]

No, Bryn, I confess it is still on my shopping list and really must get hold of it - of all early pianos, the Grafs are the ones that I find the most alluring, such beautiful ethereal sounds. Richard Burnett recorded a lot on his original instrument, too, at Finchcocks. Another set of discs I really like are the Beethoven violin sonatas with Schroder and Jos Van Immerseel - he plays on an 1824 Graf and the DHM recording is so much to my taste.

Yes, those keyboard and violin sonatas are very fine. I have not looked to see if they are in any of the larger multi-disc sets. I grabbed the chance to buy the 3-CD set when it turned up at a sensible price. I see there is a used copy up for grabs on amazon.co.uk at a reasonable price at the time of posting. Well worth going for, I'd say. Ah, it's also on QOBUZ but without any booklet pdf.

[Mandryka]

As everyone knows, Beethoven wrote some variations in 1819, and then left the project for a few years. The 1819 version -- if it can be called that -- is on record here on Track 9 disc 1 here

https://open.spotify.com/album/17QYKgs6GiFfZ05MY91Z79

It's very stylishly and elegantly and expressively and intimately played by Jan Michaels, a new name for me, but I intend to explore some of his other recordings.

https://www.michielsjan.be/

I can't help but think that The Diabelli Variations is like AoF in a way, in that the composer put the project aside for a considerable amount of time before returning to it. In the case of AoF I always feel that the best music came later, and recordings which just cover the earlier fugues leave out my favourite music.

I don't know if I feel like that about the Diabelli Variations.