Gavin Gamboa – Beethoven ⎮ Diabelli Variations

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
33 Veränderungen über einen Walzer von Anton Diabelli, Opus 120 (1819-1823)

The Diabelli Variations encapsulate the totality of Beethoven's compositional style with all of its behaviors, digressions, interjections, wonders, injunctions, and developments completely intact and, with a remarkably adventurous spirit, operating in stunning fluidity in one of the most outrageous and seemingly baffling compositions ever written for the piano. Here, we find the traditional genre of classical Theme and Variations maximized into a work of serious experimentation and contemplation; one which is veiled as a game of charade while it assumes epic proportions in both duration as well as thematic treatment and variety.

Gavin Arturo Gamboa, piano
Teatro Peón Contreras
Mérida, Yucatán, México
4 November 2011

Cover illustration by Marci Pinna

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