Ludwig van Beethoven: Diabelli Variations op. 120
Joseph Haydn: Variations in F minor Hob. XVII,6
Michael Korstick, piano

When Michael Korstick decides to record all Beethoven piano sonatas, this should not be understood as an experiment but rather as an artistic statement. “I only do things I’m convinced about,” says Korstick about himself, and that can be taken both as a sign of the highest musical conscientiousness as well as insurance that his interpretation always follows his exceptionally precise conception of how the music should ideally sound.
Korstick opens his Beethoven cycle on OehmsClassics with the Diabelli Variation, op. 120. The imagination and relish he uses to envision this work lets listeners know they’re in for an exciting ride: “Like a train shooting downhill and crashing against the final chord!”