Beethoven: Diabelli Variations, Op. 120
Performed by Paul Lewis, piano
Beethoven’s 33 Variations on a theme by Anton Diabelli were completed in 1823. Upon hearing Beethoven’s submission, Diabelli said that it was a great and important masterpiece, worthy to be ranked beside Johann Sebastian Bach’s famous masterpieces of the same type.
On this CD, Released on 30th May 2011, Paul Lewis brings his pianistic sensitivity and remarkable technique to bear on this major masterwork of the period.
Between 2005 and 2007 Paul Lewis performed all the Beethoven piano sonatas on tour in the USA and Europe. In the summer of 2010 he became the first soloist to perform the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos at the BBC Proms concerts in London.
Here are some Press notices:
“Lewis’s interpretation mixes high drama and poetic aplomb — characteristics of a serious musician, flexing his muscles…Faced with Diabelli’s theme, many pianists stay content with a relatively uninflected reading but Lewis colours the notes with romantic panache, the left-hand bass strongly emphasised, the right-hand fingering almost hurtling, as if he’s panting to get to the real meat, the 33 variations.” The
………………………London Times, 27th May 2011
“The playing possesses all the dynamism and discretion, the insight and immediacy, that Lewis poured into that grand project of encompassing all 32 of the sonatas, and is essential listening…[Lewis] is a master of characterisation, pointing up Beethoven’s inventiveness as well as his architectural acumen, and playing with palpable concentration and, in the slower variations, with sublime intensity.” The
…………………….London Telegraph, 2nd June 2011
Here is pianist Paul Lewis in Beethoven piano concerto #3:
Tags: Paul Lewis, pianist, Beethovan, Diabelli variations