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Arietta-001 Beethoven "The Diabelli Variations", William Kinderman, piano
A beautiful two disc collection includes the full studio recording of the Diabelli Variations performed by William Kinderman and a 45 minute lecture about the variations by William Kinderman (with live excerpts from a performance of the Diabelli Variations in Bakersfield, California, 2002). Also included is a 24 page booklet with liner notes by William Kinderman, Moisés Kaufman, and Geoffrey Merritt. (buy)
Diabelli Variations
You can listen to William Kinderman's entire Diabelli Variation CD or just the Diabelli Variations lecture on Bandcamp (CD, lecture). You can also read the Diabelli Variations CD liner notes here.
Read about Moisés Kaufman's play, "33 Variations".

Arietta-002 Beethoven "The Last Three Piano Sonatas ", William Kinderman, piano
"Beethoven's last piano sonata is a monument to his conviction that solutions to the problems facing humanity lie ever within our grasp if they can be recognised for what they are and be confronted by models of human transforamtion. Maynard Solomon has argued that 'masterpieces of art are instilled with a surplus of constantly renewable energy -- an energy that provides a motive force for changes in the relations between human beings -- because they contain projections of human desires and goals which have not yet been achieved (which indeed may be unrealisable)'. Among Beethoven's instrumental works Op 111 assumes a special position as an 'effigy of (the) ideal' in Schiller's formulation; and every adequate performance must re-enact something of this process, reaching as it does beyond the merely aesthetic dimension to touch the domain of the moral and ethical." William Kinderman, 2002 (buy)
The Last Three Sonatas
Read the complete liner notes from the original release of The Last Three Piano Sonatas (released on the Hyperion UK label) here.

"William Kinderman is the scholar-performer to whom Alfred Brendel entrusts his programme notes ... and the author of a recent Beethoven monograph ... [This playing] takes an expansive delight in the music's wonder-filled journey ... toughened by the many insights his research has yielded ... Not to be missed." (The Times)
"Really in a class of its own, remarkably fresh and well thought out ... The most outstanding Diabelli Variations to have appeared for ages." (The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs)
"Pianistically and interpretatively engaging, Kinderman's Diabelli Variations is certainly one of the most original and compelling to date." (Journal of The Beethoven Society of Europe)
"A formidable pianist ... Kinderman's exemplary clarity allows us to hear every detail of the amazing score and to marvel afresh at its beauty and sheer ingenuity." (The Sunday Times)

Oxford University Press re-releases Willam Kinderman's critically acclaimed "Beethoven's Diabelli Variations" (Paperback) -- Available now!
The Thirty-three Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, Op. 120, represent Beethoven's most extraordinary achievement in the art of variation-writing. In their originality and power of invention, they stand beside other late Beethoven masterpieces such as the Ninth Symphony, the Missa Solemnis, and the last quartets. William Kinderman's study of the compositional history of the work includes the first extended investigation and reconstruction of the sketches and drafts, and reveals, contrary to earlier views of its chronology, that it was actually begun in 1819, then put aside, and completed in 1822-3. Kinderman also provides an analytical discussion of the complete work, and he demonstrates how insights derived from a close study of the sketches can illuminate Beethoven's compositional ideas and attitudes and contribute substantially to a better understanding of this massive and complex set of variations. The book includes complete transcriptions of the two central documents in the genesis of the Diabelli variations - the reconstructed Wittgenstein Sketchbook and the Paris - Landsberg - Montauban Draft.
(link to "Beethoven's Diabelli Variations" page at Amazon and Oxford University Press)
Diabelli Variations


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