Piano variations

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Works by W.A. Mozart, L.v.Beethoven, F. Schubert, R. Schumann, F. Mendelssohn, F. Chopin
Alejandro Picó-Leonis, piano

This CD provides a short survey of the development of piano variations, beginning with Mozart’s Duport Variations. Beethoven then elevates the hitherto relatively mechanical manner of writing variations to a new level. In the romantic era, the variation became an extremely important form of piano literature, one which composers handled increasingly freely. It thus seemed to ideally reflect the will to expression of that age, as the works by Schumann and Mendelssohn illustrate. The program concludes with Chopin’s Berceuse op. 57. Although only 72 bars long, the composer writes these 16 variations with the most exceptional brevity possible.

Alejandro Picó-Leonís was born in Alicante, Spain. After studying in his home city and in Madrid, he went to New York to study with Ubaldo Díaz- Acosta, a student of Alicia de Larrocha. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2002. He has performed a number of times in Munich’s Gasteig and in Vienna’s Musikverein.

Variation

Reflection on a fundamental human need

The scope for creativity at a composer’s disposal is not actually all that diverse. In fact there are only three options: repetition, contrast and variation. The latter entails the melodic, tonal-harmonic or rhythmic alteration of a prescribed musical motif and therefore represents the constant artistic reworking of ideas. Works based on the principle of altering the thematic motif presented at the beginning (exemplified by appropriate titles such as “Variations on…”) have always attracted particular attention.

From a historical perspective, Mozart’s variations are considered to be among the most important works, along with the sonatas, for the piano. They are often born out of improvisation. The so-called Duport Variations in D major (K. 573) are named after Jean-Pierre Duport, a famous virtuoso cellist and musical adviser to the Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm II. Mozart takes Duport’s folksy and extremely graceful theme (taken from the minuet of his Cello Sonata No. 6 in D major, published in 1787), setting it in the upper descant register of that era’s piano keyboard. Nine variations follow, which in spite of their contrasting moods – joyful, humorous, leisurely or melancholic – retain the dancing character of the minuet.

All of the mechanical variations, which to some extent seemed inherent to those variations composed during the 18th century, were eclipsed by those of Beethoven. As self-contained works, the cyclic variations stand on a par with his sonatas. Beginning in the style of a passacaglia, the 32 Variations in C minor on an original theme (WoO 80) dated from 1806 develop in terms of technical demands and content to weave a dense fabric of musical textures. The intended overall impression: a single idea conveyed through a great arc of material.

In 1830 Robert Schumann bestowed upon his Abegg Variations (op. 1) the honor of being his first classified work. The inspiration for this Romantic era showpiece was a love affair the composer had as a 19-year-old former law student attending a ball. Schumann is said to have fallen for a certain young lady by the name of Meta to whom, in a state of emotional infatuation, he impulsively awarded the title ‘Comtesse Pauline d’Abegg’. The name of the fictitious countess transcribes itself wonderfully into music and hence was not chosen by accident: an ascending sequence of the notes A-B(b)-E-G-G.

With the possible exception of the Lindenbaum, Schubert’s 1827 Impromptu in B-flat major (D 935/3) contains one of his most popular melodies. It is varied five times in an increasingly lush manner. This is not the original theme’s first appearance, which originated in the theatre music for Helmina von Chézy’s Rosamunde, written by Schubert himself in 1823.

Flowing transitions embellish Felix Mendelssohn’s Variations sérieuses (op. 54). Their title must have had an unsettling effect in a time (1841) virtually overflowing with superficial “Variations brillantes”. However Mendelssohn held to the promise made in the title of his 17 variations, which were particularly treasured by Ferruccio Busoni. Possibly Mendelssohn’s most important work for solo piano.

Chopin’s closing lullaby from 1843 is a mere 72 bars long: the Berceuse in D-flat major (op. 57). Nonetheless, there was enough room for a total of 16 virtuosic variations. Such a feast of sound is certainly anything but sleep-inducing …

In the 22nd chapter of his “composer novel”, Doktor Faustus, Thomas Mann goes so far as to ascribe an element of the “genuinely archaic” to variation form in music, i.e., something deeply primeval: variation as a kind of basic human need – a notion that, according to Theodor W. Adorno’s Philosophie der Neuen Musik (Philosophy of New Music), can be developed and applied to the here and now.