BEETHOVEN DIABELLI VARIATIONS, OP 120

The Beethoven Diabelli Variations always mak me think of a giant oak tree growing out of a tiny acorn. As the story goes, Diabelli approached Beethoven with the proposition that he join a number of other composers (fifty-one in all were invited to contribute) in composing a variation on a waltz Diabelli himself had written. Beethoven declined, declaring the project to be beneath him. He then proceeded to compose thirty-three variations on Diabelli's little waltz. This hour long exercise in the form stands shoulder to shoulder with the most magnificent essays of its kind ever penned.

I include variations supplied by some of the better known composers. These are available to be heard at the end of this page.

As with everything else these days, there are numerous recordings of the Beethoven Diabelli Variations available. Given that the work is so long, I will eschew my usual offering of most of the recordings I can find and limit my choices to wonderful performances and those I might perhaps enjoy less but are the work of historically important pianists.

Interestingly, and most unusually, I find performances by contemporary pianists often more more satisfying. It is as though they hear what Beethoven must have heard in Diabelli's little waltz, and in his inner ear, the potential for drama and excitement that drove Beethoven to compose what is, in my opinion, one of the great masterpieces of the solo piano repertoire.

I would like to point out the performance of the Beethoven Diabelli Variations by Leonard Shure, one of the great pianists whose name and playing is so sadly unknown to most music lovers. I love Sokolov's performance, and I find Richter-Haaser's very compelling, especially in the slower movements in which the forward impetus of this great work never lags. And to my great surprise, i find the Barenboim performance really quite splendid.

But the performance of the Beethoven Diabelli Variations that is closest to my heart is the one by Beth Levin, a superb pianist, student of Marian Filar, Rudolf Serkin, Leonard Shure, and Dorothy Taubman, whose name should be on the playbill of every serious musical venue from coast to coast.

ARTHUR FRIEDHEIM
Russian pianist (1859-1932)

1910 piano roll of Theme and Var 1-10

ARTUR SCHNABEL
German pianist (1882-1951)

recorded in 1937

WILHELM BACKHAUS
German pianist (1884-1969)

recorded in 1954

Part I Theme and Var 1-6

Part II Var 7-13

Part III Var 14-21

Part IV Var 22-27

Part V Var 28-33 [missing]

MIECZYSŁAW HORSZOWSKI
Polish-American pianist(1892-1993)

recorded in 1951

MARIA YUDINA
Soviet pianist (1899-1970)

recorded in 1961

CLAUDIO ARRAU
Chilean pianist (1903-1991)

recorded live in New York in 1952

RUDOLF SERKIN
Bohemian-born American pianist (1903-1991)

recorded live at the Casals Festival in Prades in 1954

recorded live in Londan in 1969

EUNICE NORTON
American pianist (1908-2005)

recorded in 1977

recorded live at the Peacham Festival in Vermont in 1982

recorded live in her Pittsburgh studio in 1989

LEONARD SHURE
American pianist (1910-1995)

recorded in 1948

HANS RICHTER-HASAAR
German pianist (1912-1980)

Part I Theme and Var 1-8

Part II Var 9-20

Part III Var 21-30

Part IV Var 31-33

SVIATOSLAV RICHTER
Soviet pianist (1915-1997)

recorded live in 1951

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

recorded live in 1986

GÉZA ANDA
Hungarian pianist (1921-1976)

Part I Theme and Var 1-10

Part II Var 11-19

Part III Var 20-29

Part IV Var 30-33

MARGARITA FYODOROVA
Russian pianist (b 1920s)

recorded ca1978

TATIANA NIKOLAYEVA
Russian pianist (1924-1993)

recorded in 1979

FRIEDRICH GULDA
Austrian pianist (1930-2000)

recorded in 1978

ALFRED BRENDEL
Austrian Pianist (b 1931)

Part I Theme and Var 1-11

Part II Var 12-21

Part III Var 22-29

Part IV Var 30-33

JOHN BROWNING
American pianist (1933-2003)

Part I Theme and Var 1-20

Part II Var 21-33

VLADIMIR ASHKENAZY
Russian-Icelandic pianist (b 1937)

[ plus 12 variations, WoO 71
1 Andante grazioso, quasi allegretto from 7 Bagatelles, Op 33 ]

STEPHEN KOVACEVICH
American pianist (b 1940)

recorded ca1968

MAURIZIO POLLINI
Italian pianist (b 1942)

recorded in 1998

Part I Theme and Var 1-15

Part II Var 16-33

DANIEL BARENBOIM
Agentine-Israeli pianist (b 1942)

Part I Theme and Var 1-10

Part II Var 11-19

Part III Var 20-27

Part IV Var 28-31

Part V Var 32-33

DANIEL HOEXTER
Israeli pianist (b 1945)

recorded in Zurich in 1988

GERARD WILLEMS
Dutch-born Australian pianist (b 1946)

RUDOLF BUCHBINDER
Austrian pianist (b 1946)

PETER SERKIN
American pianist (b 1947)

@ 40:40 [preceded by Beethoven Piano Sonata 30 in E major, Op 109]

taped live in Japan in 2002

BETH LEVIN
American pianist (b 1950)

GRIGORY SOKOLOV
Russian pianist (b 1950)

recorded lin in St. Petersburg in 1985

VLADIMIR FELTSMAN
Russian pianist (b 1952)

[ plus Andante favori, WoO 57 ]

ANDRAS SCHIFF
Hungarian-born British pianist (b 1953)

recorded live in Naples in 2011

ANDREAS STAIER
German pianist (b 1955)

recorded on a fortepiano

PIOTR ANDERSZEWSKI
Polish pianist (b 1969)

VESTARD SHIMKUS
Latvian pianist (b 1984)

Video recorded live in Germany in 2014

Diabelli Variations Vaterländischer Künstlerverein
performed by Ian Fountain, English pianist (b ca1970)

Theme (Anton Diabelli)
00:51 Variation V4 by Carl Czerny
01:56 Variation V16 by Johann Nepomuk Hummel (S 161)
03:22 Variation V21 by Conradin Kreutzer
04:21 Variation V24 by Franz Liszt (S 147)
05:30 Variation V26 by Ignaz Moscheles
06:43 Variation V28 by Franz Xaver Mozart
08:12 Variation V38 by Franz Schubert (D 718)
10:07 Coda by Carl Czerny