Franz Hummel, Ludwig van Beethoven: Diabelli Variations

To follow in Beethoven's footsteps by writing a new set of Diabelli Variations takes confidence in spades; Beethoven's own set, the 33 Variations on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, Op. 120, is one of the profound landmarks of his celebrated late period. German composer Franz Hummel -- appropriately named for the project, but apparently no relation to Johann Nepomuk Hummel -- has undertaken various ambitious projects and actually fares well with this challenge. He writes in his rather murky booklet notes (in German, English, and ... Read More

To follow in Beethoven's footsteps by writing a new set of Diabelli Variations takes confidence in spades; Beethoven's own set, the 33 Variations on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, Op. 120, is one of the profound landmarks of his celebrated late period. German composer Franz Hummel -- appropriately named for the project, but apparently no relation to Johann Nepomuk Hummel -- has undertaken various ambitious projects and actually fares well with this challenge. He writes in his rather murky booklet notes (in German, English, and French) that his variations "remain separate" from Beethoven's work, and moreover that the ordering of his own variations is "untamed and random." But of course the expectations the listener brings from the Beethoven set are essential, and Hummel by no means ignores them. The first variation takes off from Diabelli's flouncing theme in the same fashion as Beethoven's and announces the tonal orientation of Hummel's set. The slow variations fall in roughly the same places, and the... Read Less