Beethoven - Diabelli Variations, Op. 120 [Grigory Sokolov]

33 Variations on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, Op. 120 (1819-23)
[33 Veränderungen über einen Walzer von Diabelli, Opus 120]
Tema: Vivace [0:10]
Variation 1: Alla marcia maestoso [1:10]
Variation 2: Poco allegro [3:38]
Variation 3: L'istesso tempo [4:33]
Variation 4: Un poco più vivace [6:26]
Variation 5: Allegro vivace [7:52]
Variation 6: Allegro ma non troppo e serioso [9:07]
Variation 7: Un poco più allegro [10:51]
Variation 8: Poco vivace [11:58]
Variation 9: Allegro pesante e risoluto [13:40]
Variation 10: Presto [16:00]
Variation 11: Allegretto [16:32]
Variation 12: Un poco più moto [17:52]
Variation 13: Vivace [18:41]
Variation 14: Grave e maestoso [19:54]
Variation 15: Presto scherzando [24:24]
Variation 16: Allegro [25:02]
Variation 17 [26:02]
Variation 18: Poco moderato [26:59]
Variation 19: Presto [28:58]
Variation 20: Andante [29:45]
Variation 21: Allegro con brio [32:24]
Variation 22: Allegro molto alla "Notte e giorno faticar" di Mozart [33:46]
Variation 23: Allegro assai [34:31]
Variation 24: Fughetta. Andante [35:28]
Variation 25: Allegro [38:37]
Variation 26 [39:38]
Variation 27: Vivace [40:51]
Variation 28: Allegro [41:48]
Variation 29: Adagio ma non troppo [42:42]
Variation 30: Andante, sempre cantabile [43:57]
Variation 31: Largo, molto espressivo [46:01]
Variation 32: Fuga. Allegro [51:42]
Variation 33: Tempo di Minuetto moderato (aber nicht schleppend) [55:17]
This work is a large-scale set of variations for solo piano by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). The main theme is based on a simple waltz composed by the Austrian music publisher and composer Anton Diabelli (1781-1858). The harmonic, rhythmic, textural and structural development that Beethoven applies to the waltz theme is simply astounding. In this 1985 live performance (St. Petersburg), the Russian pianist Grigory Sokolov does justice to Beethoven's work of genius.

[@classicalmusic1175]

The story behind these variations is quite interesting. Basically, Diabelli requested that all the major composers of the time living in Austria each write a variation on his waltz. The variations would be published in a patriotic volume called "Vaterländischer Künstlerverein," and its profits would go towards helping orphans and widows of the Napoleonic wars. Johann Hummel, Franz Schubert, and Carl Czerny each contributed a variation. An 11-year-old Franz Liszt even wrote one, though his entry wasn't included in the original publication. Sometime during 1819, word of the project reached Vienna's most famous resident, Ludwig van Beethoven, and he obliged to participate. But Beethoven, being Beethoven, couldn't settle on one variation, so he wrote thirty-three of them.

[@NBven]

That's what I call a very useful comment! Props to you :)

[@klematiszszimonettarose1797]

Thanks for the useful comment :)

[@MaestroTJS]

There are a couple of other stories surrounding it, which may not be true, but which are more entertaining. One is that he refused because he thought the theme was garbage but changed his mind when he found out that Diabelli would pay him a lot of money for it (which seems to fly in the face of the charity part of it). The other is that he thought the theme was garbage and then decided to show what he could do with such paltry material. And another is that he changed his mind on the theme and actually came to like it. I kind of like thinking he thought it was crap and then decided to make something magnificent from it--that's a true artist.

[@davidgeene4496]

Have a look at the play 33 Variations by Moises Kaufman which explores the creation of the variations through the eyes of a 21st century musicologist. Characters include - Beethoven himself, Diabelli (the composer of the original waltz and a music publisher) and Anton Schindler who was one of Beethoven's posthumous biographers (although inaccurate apparently). It's fascinating because it investigates themes of mediocrity (the waltz (?) and the musicologists daughter), deterioration (Beethoven's health and hearing, and the musicologist's ALS), but it's mostly about transformation!

[@LudwigvanBeethoven2]

Good to know

[@moulin3818]

The greatest "hold my beer" in music history

[@Sam-zj6mw]

I dunno. I reckon inane KZbin memes almost sully this kind of art. How about it’s so good that you should forget about that sort of absolute shit for once?

[@faustianliszt]

@@Sam-zj6mw you must be fun at parties

[@Sam-zj6mw]

Quite so, only one not sober. Everyone else is having their beer held for them, whilst I drink mine.

[@amerrylittlemonarch]

@@Sam-zj6mw Why don't you shut the fuck up and mind your own business, you uptight snob? What's wrong with a little entertainment in the comments? I believe it does justice to this mildly upbeat work.

[@joshuasussman4020]

Quite so? Lol. Mou Lin’s comment was actually perceptive, playing on something interesting about the history of this piece. Dirk, you’re not sophisticated; if you wanna put my accusation to the test, I’m keen to embarrass you here in this public forum. Or, you can just put on some mittens so you can’t type anymore and listen to this great recording.

[@johnchessant3012]

51:42 this is quite possibly the funniest fugue subject ever, it's absolutely amazing what Beethoven was able to do with it

[@jfffjl]

Sounds like he is going down stairs, with little abortive trips back up because he thinks he forgot something.

[@LeaderOfTheRedNinjas]

​@@jfffjlRage over a lost thing upstairs

[@raoultak]

Isn't this one of Beethoven's greatest master pieces? If not the greatest? I am a violinist, but (apart from his beautiful violin concerto) I always tend to go to Beethoven's piano compositions. Allover I think Beethoven was and is the greatest composer ever. How could life give him such misery, and yet giving all of us such joy. How would life be without Beethoven?

[@kaspafischer]

+Raoul Tak Life without Beethoven would be so much sadder, my friend...

[@classicalmusic1175]

+Raoul Tak Yes, this is indeed one of Beethoven's finest pieces for piano.

[@_Ramen-Vac_]

The reason for suffering is- no mind left to devote to normal living while all wrapped-up in notes. Ludwig Van could not have been happy at all if not for the glimpses of heaven thought, writ... that's the glory. The first highest satisfaction for he, came from his new reality, approaching the grandeur of nature's infinite display, only to reach it after complete oblivion of the senses - and really, no other made any difference to what we hear. Mozart Bach Handel Haydn and Schiller were only sparks.

[@desiredmanga]

+MrBubblegumballs I agree in almost everything, but Bach a spark?...hummm, "Nicht Bach sondern Meer sollte er heissen"- Not River but Ocean his name should be- and that was said by Beethoven. Of course Beethoven was great in his own furious, passional, irrational way (Art, guys, art), but Bach is an Universe-man, a mathematical, physic, philosophycal artist. Whatever made in those three centuries in music was in Bach before: Dissonances? Yep, they are. Stockastic/ Mathematical music? are you kidding me? of course he did! (for instance, the Canon Cancrizans), symbolical, allegoric, pithagorical, platonical...if music is an Universe, Bach is its Law.

[@_Ramen-Vac_]

yeah, I may have left Bach a bigger fare, but Beethoven wouldn't have had two thoughts about Bach really, more about Mozart's technical dynamos --- put it like this, Bach is the bedrock, Beethoven the skyscraper... and Mozart a theme-park w/ 4 coasters and loads of neat kiddie-rides...

[@antimeran]

54:44 - An incredible moment when the seemingly inexorable fugue disintegrates into a cascade of sweeping arpeggi up and down the keyboard. The hushed chords which follow have an extraordinary effect, neutralizing the propulsive energy of the preceding material, but also creating a mysterious, unresolved tension. The graceful minuet which follows is so pleasantly unexpected. Rosen describes it as an outright rejection of profundity- a comic solution that rounds off the great variation set.

[@colinmurphy2214]

I disagree somewhat with your interpretation. The preceding fugue didn’t sound inexorable to me, it sounded deeply unstable and increasingly uncanny, until it finally got so outlandish it exploded from its own energy. The chords following the dim7 flourish seemed to me a placid settling from the previous violence, like the silence that follows someone screaming at the top of their lungs.

[@danielvs7080]

Yes!

[@brandonmacey964]

Also, Beethoven didn’t indicate hushed chords, according to the score, I saw FF. if this is an urtext, then Beethoven wanted a fortissimo not hushed chords, so the effect was sokolov’s.. I personally don’t mind when a pianist takes liberties like that

[@stanislavbichenko2563]

@@brandonmacey964 the FF is for the chord immediately after the arpeggi. The rest of them are pp.

[@brandonmacey964]

@@stanislavbichenko2563 I see that now thank you for pointing it out

[@raoultak]

This is a great master piece by Beethoven, played masterly. Consider Beethoven's life at the time he wrote these variations. This is a miracle. For me Beethoven is the greatest composer.

[@eduardoguerraavila8329]

Well said !

[@ablack7777]

Right on!

[@jJPyLfGpLKetwBam]

beethoven was in another level... his standard pieces last from half to 1 hour :)

[@Quim141]

J.S.Bach

[@ethansaltmere]

I think many are missing the point here. When I first listened to this piece of music and indeed any of Beethoven's late works I thought it was junk. But after many years of listening and thinking and pondering these have become my favorite pieces of music. They are huge stories, dealing with the deepest themes, and providing resolution no other art from can provide. That's the thing with great music. The more you listen, the more you love it

[@barney6888]

God bless our beloved Beethoven. At least he knew we were going to hear him someday. One of the most remarkable individuals to ever live.

[@f1f1s]

Var. X, XXVII. Alkan: Étude Op. 35 No. 4. Var. XV. Alkan: Pas redoublé for wind orchestra. Var. XVI. Alkan: Allegro marziale Op. 12 No. 3. Var. XVII. Alkan: Scherzo Focoso. Var. XXV. Chopin-Godowsky: Study in F minor after Op. 10 No. 9 (2nd version, imitation of Op. 25 No. 2). Nice work, Beethoven. You are the most influential piano composer who has ever lived.

[@jakob8076]

Well, not to mock Alkan (Charles-Valentin Morhange actually), but he isn't quite important enough to attempt to use him to prove that Beethoven was influental

[@farahmand4771]

And seriously... Beethoven had probably the greatest influence on music history with Bach, but for the piano, it would be Liszt or Chopin (depending on how one judges it).

[@MrPheegoo]

This piece is revolutionary and prophetic in conception, scope, imagination, deeply philosophical and all encompassing in the sense that it foretells future musical possibilities and summarizes the past. A most Incredible piece, transcending toward the end into the ethereal realms -- no other piece like -- absolutely in a place by itself!

[@shnimmuc]

+Philip Choi I agree with you totally on this incredible work.

[@cristinamaiapm]

xupa rola

[@martinsz441]

sounds like the summary of OP 111

[@ullrichherz7053]

Philip C I completely concur. The only piano variations on the same level are imho Bach's Goldberg- and Max Reger's Bach-Variations opus 81.

[@telephilia]

Reger? Really?

[@N7492]

Sokolov is such a superb musician. He can take a well played piece such as this and breathe new life into it. I've heard this wonderful set of variations many times over the past 5 decades, but this performance gave it such beautiful dimensions it was as if I was hearing it for the first time. e.g, 39:37, variation 26. Transcendent!

[@l.c.turner-thedailycanon]

So we already know the joke with the backstory, but notice how Beethoven doesn't end with a fugue (which would bring the low brow Diabelli all the way the most sophisticated form) but finishes with a minuet, a simple dance form, and then turns the minuet into the most transcendent music at 58:44 Definitely favorite Beethoven, and I think maybe the greatest piece ever.

[@alessandroverniani56]

Sokolov has the versatile, trained fingers of the master pianist he clearly is; this is a superb interpretation.

[@AlephNeil]

Variation 32 is a hidden gem, for anyone who appreciates the mad genius of Op 106 or Op 133.

[@salvatoregiordano4202]

Also the op 111

[@541360]

Beethoven speaks to me when I hear this piece. Can't read music well enough to play it yet but I can take what I hear and make music with it. Got to get my soft pedal fixed. Dynamics give life to this. I improvise with ideas I get from Beethoven, and they seem to be endless. The first variation is playful, with like a hint of some drama. Grigory Sokolov breathes life into this music.

[@eduardoguerraavila8329]

"The greatest work for keyboard of all" Alfred Brendel.

[@SCRIABINIST]

Also a certainly great reward when played

[@Farahmand1010]

Difficult to say if it's greater or not than the Goldberg or Chopin's preludes. I would not go that far. And then there's the Hammerklavier and Liszt's b minor...

[@marshalldavies7735]

Brendel (in his recording) couldn't (--or wouldn't, preferring to filter out the unworthy listeners?--) charm someone like me with this music (30 yrs. ago). Reading through (some of) it myself at the piano, as I do from time to time, I still felt like there was some magic that others were experiencing and that I was missing. But this one hour of glorious music appreciation has made me a believer. Hurrah and thank God for MR. GRIGORY SOKOLOV who has connected with this music in a way that I can understand! Also, maybe I've become better at listening. Hooray for me too!

[@leonhardeuler6811]

@@Farahmand1010 Chopin preludes? I never considered them greater than even Waldstein, especially in piano technique.

[@segmentsAndCurves]

based

[@Eorzat]

I love the story of how these variations originated. The publisher Diabelli sent out a request to 51 prominent composers and musicians to each write a variation to a waltz that he composed and each one accepted including Schubert, Czerny, Cramer, and the eleven-year-old Liszt. Everyone except Beethoven. Later, however, he gave in and wrote not one but thirty-three of these variations which ultimately put the other 50 to shame and came to be regarded as a masterpiece in itself.

[@racheldahliamusic]

Thanks for the expanded story of this :)

[@sheeppoop9091]

You can just hear the Op 111 tonality in this. Lovely!

[@JJ-nf3jr]

I didn't know sheep poop was so knowledgeable! Lol

[@StyzeSoulmaker]

Yep. In variation XVII, the melody from opus 111 is even in the bass

[@professordeportugadoyt113]

Even sheep poop listens to Beethoven? lol o. ¥

[@ilprofessore10012]

I must disagree with Mr. P below. Listening to Sokolov's amazing Beethoven with its sudden shifts from piano to forte, from tenderness to bombast, makes me think that is exactly how Ludwig composed in the solitude of his studio, and in his mind. Ludwig was no gentleman, and he was not afraid of fortissimo anymore than he was afraid of pianissimo. When it suited him, he sang out in a loud voice. He demanded to be heard! If such a brash voice offends your sensibility, there are more well-mannered composers to be listened to in the parlour. Beethoven wanted to shake the heavens as well as touch our hearts, and, as played by Sokolov, he succeeded in doing so. Genius!

[@yves921]

MAGNIFIQUE, il ne me viens pas d'autre mot pour cette interprétation si pleine d'émotion. Complètement d'accord avec votre analyse NB Schwartz.

[@Fritz_Maisenbacher]

Sokolov is an elephant . Also in his mind . Listen to Schnabel , he is playing more fortissimo and more pianissimo than Sokolov , but he knows what he is playing : the late Beethoven , and not a kind of drunk Tchaïkowsky like here ....

[@raoultak]

I couldn't say more...perfect words. Sokolov was born to play Beethoven. And BEETHOVEN....? He was (and is) one of our greatest miracles. Probably the greatest composer ever.

[@misslapinouchou]

Keep in mind that pianos forte didn't sound the same then compared to now

[@evaplasilova915]

Thank you for these words:-) I love the dynamics of Beethoven´s compositions. Gradient:-) It must be heard in their interpretation, otherwise it is bad, flat, empty!

[@rainw7738]

Several years ago，this piece could only make me sleepy, while BWV 988 made me excited. It just goes all converse now.

[@heavyvacation9826]

I've lost most of my memory in an auto accident. I have visited this composition for what feels like the first time. I have no memory of this being so HUGE in scope! WOW! This has blown me away. I THOUGHT the Hammerklavier was best of the piano work. Of the piano pieces very many could be orchestrated into beautiful, awesome symphonic works. HOW could this ever be orchestrated? Who would do it? PLEASE - Stokowski brought back from the dead or Vladimir Ashkenazi? I really wish!

[@gerdprengel7616]

I also love to orchestrate the great piano works by Beethoven as I have orchestrated already his last 3 sonatas ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3aciYF_q8psla8 , ...) , but to orchestrate the Diabelli variations , I think, is not adequately possible as they are so pianistic. But I am thinking of orchestrating the heavenly Fugetta XXIV and maybe even the great fugue ... That would be something !

[@timotot123]

This was my introduction to Grigory Sokolov and it will be a journey that will never end. The genius of this great interpreter of piano repertoire is in mind on a spiritual or divine level

[@peterelliott5720]

I had a similar experience around 2 years ago. It can safely be said that he's had a profoundly deep impact on my life. If you ever get a chance, you should definitely go to see him live; there's really nothing in the world like it

[@Azian2DaMax]

@@peterelliott5720 I traveled all the way from Los Angeles to Warsaw last November to attend one of his recitals and I will remember it forever. He played Schumann's Kreisleriana and Rachmaninoff's Op.23 preludes. I enjoyed every second of it, and even made friends with a the old Polish woman sitting next to me, who happened to speak great English. She was a piano professor at the University of Indiana for years, but moved back to Poland to take care of her parents. I don't have anyone in my life that I can share my love of piano music with, so it was a joy to speak to someone so knowledgable and to learn a few things. In addition to the scheduled programming, Sokolov gave near 40 minutes of encores (6 pieces!). You can tell he just simply LOVES playing the piano and probably would've stayed up there for another hour if it wasn't already so late. It's a shame that so many of my favorite pianists rarely visit the west coast of the United States. I wish I didn't have so travel so far to hear/see the greats live!

[@racheldahliamusic]

Absolutely agree. Closed eyes in a quiet place to listen to this will take you on an imagery journey like you've never seen before.

[@icylucy5605]

this rendition just blows me away! thank you so much for up loading.

[@shnimmuc]

This with the Goldberg are the greatest set of variations written. Beethoven`s monumental Variations in c minor are in this elevated atmosphere also.

[@epicaunleashed8764]

Brahms Handel are better than these😊

[@tbarrelier]

If, in 10,000 years from now, ETs found a copy of this work and nothing else of the human cultural legacy, they would be amazed. If they heard this particular performance, they would have heard the best humans have to offer. Beethoven makes us all worthy.

[@segmentsAndCurves]

ETs may doesn't even appreciate wiggly air, let alone such a cultural-based piece like this.

[@colinlang466]

N.B. Schwartz, below, hits the nail on the head. The chosen tempos and contrasting dynamics are exemplary and in my view unequalled for insight and masterly technical accomplishment---having attempted to play them myself and listened to the Diabelli Variations on an LP record for thirty years.

[@dVector13]

Colin Lang wish I was smart enough to understand all that gobbledegook

[@colinlang466]

DeltaForceMember13 I was simply reinforcing Schwartz's opinion of Sokolov's performance . Sorry that I did not make myself understood.

[@TheAres1999]

In case any of you weren't aware, a play was made on this called "33 Variations". It is a parallel story line between Beethoven going deaf while working on these, and a women dying of ALS while researching his creations of the variations.

[@TheJohnblyth]

This is the kind of performance I’ve been waiting for to do justice to this work. Pity about the ads. Bravo, Solokov!

[@tomstreissguth455]

This set takes a very beautiful turn at Variation 18, before this one the variations are a bit disjointed, random, like sketches. After 18 the set becomes more daring, the pieces seem to flow more logically, and the music just grows more fascinating, thoughtful, powerful with each new variation. What an amazing work!

[@ianislios]

Marvelous upload ! Thanks !!

[@-fb-8757]

In fact, the conceptual complexity of this work is astonishing.

[@yokddaekkupmimo]

Grigory Sokolov❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ it is such an honor to meet him in youtube with Beethoven pieces thank you so much

[@luizhauck2487]

Thank you for showing the sheet music at the same time. It helped me a lot

[@SuperMelvyn]

I have always loved Beethoven's music and took to works such as the Appassionata, Archduke Trio, Spring and Kreutzer Sonatas 5th 7th and 9th Symphonies instantly. The late Quartets took longer as did the 3rd Symphony but they are now among my favourite works. BUT I have always found the Diabelli elusive. I don't know if it is because I have finally matured or because this performance is so uncompromisingly muscular, daring and architectural, but for the first time I am really enjoying these celebrated and highly praised variations and hearing why they stand among the peaks of music in the judgement of the civilized world.

[@tarikeld11]

The minuet at the end is a mix of Andante Favori and the Arietta Op. 111

[@TheEtude]

It's a masterpiece. A superb masterpiece. (I'm in love with the Fughetta)

[@eljonq1812]

I like this version -all notes perfectly clear and beautifully balanced, not too hard on the ff's sfz's, and not too inaudibly soft on the p's and pp's, unlike the other modern interpretations. I believe this is much more faithful to how the late period Beethoven would want it (or have played given the era's limitation on how piano would be able to express dynamics ).

[@warpzone2878]

The Don Giovanni variation made me laugh out loud. What a wonderful set of variations this is!

[@mmbmbmbmb]

Such pleasure to read along! Thank you for your effort to put this up. Such an excellent work of Ludwig van Beethoven ... 'executed' so well by this fabulous pianist! Thank you much!

[@OuaghlaniAlaa]

25:02 - 26:02 the best 60 seconds of my life.

[@mmbmbmbmb]

Haven't yet heard one single composition of Ludwig van Beethoven I did not like. Surely my most treasured composer. The one I would take to an Island, if I had to choose ;o) Thank goodness I don't have to choose ... and ~ am able to appreciate & enjoy so many, many others as well ;o)

[@KayakCAN]

I really like the "turning" of the sheet music pages so one can follow the notes along, if so inclined. Excellent job.

[@bayreuth79]

I adore the "Largo, molto espressivo" beginning at 46:00 . What astonishingly beautiful and touching music. And to think that this "Largo" was discovered by Beethoven's imagination in Diabelli's appalling "Watlz".

[@shnimmuc]

This with the Bach`s Goldberg variations are the greatest set of variations ever written.

[@shnimmuc]

***** I will give the Reger a listen. thanks.

[@robertgreene2684]

Brahms/Handel?

[@Simon_A.]

You shouldn't forget Schumann's "Symphonic Studies" either ... ;-)

[@calebhu6383]

L'Festin de Esope, Brahm's Handel, and Rachmaninov's Paganini are also up there.

[@fernandobe3112]

I do love variations but I am not very fond of Goldberg, in fact I have never heard the whole work, I get bored.... Schumann is for me the second master of variation, mostly by Kreisleriana.

[@catalux3]

This performance by Sokolov was the first time I was able to appreciate the true value of this treasure. Thank you very much, musicanth!

[@113averroes]

listened to this in the jungle-like summer at my aunt's ranch house in glen cove. sweet smell from the warm forest surrounding the house.

[@camomile988]

I don't know how to express this. Great work. Very beautiful and profound music. It was my first time to play youtube for 60 minutes at once! I was never bored. The video has sheet music, too. Thank you for that, too.

[@sallymj8957]

Love it! Wrote a symphony for Napoleon, but scratched his name out when he named himself emperor. And then wrote variations on one of Britain's most iconic songs.

[@dolflewis9361]

Interesting music and moders for that time!. and brillant pianoplaying by Grigory Sokolov!

[@IvanGreindl]

Замечательная интерпретация (выполнение ), под признаком силы и нюансов!

[@telephilia]

Beethoven lays out the universe of his musical language in the long and eventful journey that is this astonishing work.

[@johnnyliminal8032]

Listen to this post lots, tune has been my #1 since well before (vinyl got lost). Thank you.

[@agseu3668]

Extraordinário! Sempre!

[@democolor42]

For me the Best performance of Diabelli. This performance is for the sophisticated intelligent serious audience and not for the crowds and mobs

[@henrithellier5736]

Meilleure version de toutes ! où la variation n´escamote pas le thème de la valse tout au long de ses 33 expressions. Et le toucher plein de charme et poésie de Sokolof rendent digeste cette belle oeuvre. Merci et bravo!

[@memilyluvskitties8988]

This is beautiful! My school play "33 Variations" inspired me to listen to this while I study

[@TheHyenaKing]

thank you so much for uploading.

[@KayakCAN]

I just love the fact that one can follow the notes as the music flows. Nicely done. Bravo! Also, as somebody mentioned, one can hear "shades" of 32nd :)

[@TheHyenaKing]

thank you very much master sokolov !

[@omarrondaludwig4123]

REALLY REALLY REALLY GREAT!!!

[@mozartwolfgang4656]

What a wonderful work.

[@eduardofloressousa4346]

Impresionante! Sokolov i Beethoven....

[@mijalom]

this sounds really modern for Beethoven, tough i loved it!!

[@IvanGreindl]

Замечательная интерпретация, под признаком силы и нюансов!

[@paoloa]

Sehr ungewöhnliche und persönliche Aufführung von Grigory Sokolov. Am Ende ich die Gänsehaut für die Emotion bekam.

[@mariahelenaandrade1554]

FABULOSO!!!

[@seponvi]

Thanks for share 33 variations !!!!

[@Ndybabe]

Lovely to be able to read the score w the music ! Master Performance of course - gives me the goose-bumps... :-)

[@gbisaga]

Two of my favorite parts are in the fugue: the stretto at 52:46 followed closely by the theme inversion in the bass at 52:55. Great stuff.

[@bb1111116]

Some great playing by Sokolov.

[@joandradedasilva]

Musica Eterna, Divina!

[@jamesrockybullin5250]

I just listened to the entire set of variations partly listening out for a particular melody I had stuck in my head. It was only after that I realised what I was thinking of was the Andante Beethoven's 32nd piano sonata! Well worth listening to these though.

[@bb1111116]

Wonderful playing.

[@singtatsucgc3247]

Very well played!

[@agseu3668]

Grande Sokolov, grandíssimo Beethoven!

[@georgel2201]

Is there anyone that can see how Beethoven's writing inspired Schumann? Maybe the harmonies or the melodies are not exactly in the same style but i believe both have that orchestral sound and similar way in the perception of melody . Schumann definitely was a Beethoveniac.

[@wendelborgesdeoliveira5161]

D'accord. In his great Fantasie op 17 we see many references to the old master of Bonn whom the statue was to be inaugurated in that occasion, as well as in other parts of his creations. I totally agree.

[@karlpoppins]

There hardly is a composer after Beethoven that wasn't inspired by him to some extent.

[@kazukipiano]

omg I've never seen a piece that long and in a row...and Liszt's sonata requires already overwhelming stamina and this is double the length, even longer than Hammerklavier. Surely one of the hardest piano works

[@mmbmbmbmb]

L-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-v-e it ! Excellent piano too !

[@garfreed]

Miraculous performance!

[@ellen132]

So good! I love'in it!

[@MrInterestingthings]

after the sonatas this great treasure is left us. heaven must exist. b is so free here harmony is fabulous. how to analyze this formal structure will take me some time. i love this music so much.

[@C0coX3]

This video makes me feel emotions that don't exist

[@luisfernandorojasarroyave3568]

Sokolov una maravilla verlo tocar, es único en despertar emociones y belleza estetica cuando mueve sus manos golpeando el piano. Soy colombiano y daría lo que fuera por verlo tocar.

[@violetashtromas2224]

Very good. I have also listened to Yudina's and Richter's interpretations. My first encounter of it though was a live performance by a subtile lithuanian pianist Daumantas Kirilauskas

[@FabioPBarbieri]

Beethoven is to us today as Homer was to the ancient Greeks. He has answered all the questions of the modern world as they were being asked, or before they were. Every good thing that is questioned, challenged, cynically denied today - religion; courage; heroism; the love of man and woman; beauty; the love of nature; fellowship; friendship; the mere fact that being alive is good; the dignity of all human beings without exception - every one of them is given a colossal, unanswerable place in his music. He is the soul of everything that is best about our civilization; as he himself prayed in his Opferlied, God has indeed given him "the beautiful and the good."

[@jackjack3320]

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1896): " I always find Beethoven's C Minor concerto {the Third Piano Concerto} much smaller and weaker than Mozart's. . . . I realize that Beethoven's new personality and his new vision, which people recognized in his works, made him the greater composer in their minds. But after fifty years, our views need more perspective. One must be able to distinguish between the charm that comes from newness and the value that is intrinsic to a work. I admit that Beethoven's concerto is more modern, but not more significant! I also realize that Beethoven's First Symphony made a strong impression on people. That's the nature of a new vision. But the last three Mozart symphonies are far more significant. . . . Yes, the Rasumovsky quartets, the later symphonies-these inhabit a significant new world, one already hinted at in his Second Symphony. But what is much weaker in Beethoven compared to Mozart, and especially compared to Sebastian Bach, is the use of dissonance. Dissonance, true dissonance as Mozart used it, is not to be found in Beethoven. Look at Idomeneo. Not only is it a marvel, but as Mozart was still quite young and brash when he wrote it, it was a completely new thing. What marvelous dissonance! What harmony! You couldn't commission great music from Beethoven since he created only lesser works on commission-his more conventional pieces, his variations and the like. When Haydn or Mozart wrote on commission, it was the same as their other works. " books.google.ca/books?id=7iwZ-qTuSkUC&pg=PA134 books.google.ca/books?id=7iwZ-qTuSkUC&pg=PA135

[@pepehaydn7039]

Berstein was a bad composer, a bad director, a bad jew, a bad husband, a bad person. Definitively Bernstein’s opinions matter zero or below zero.

[@olivierdrouin2701]

I am ok with you , but what should we think about thé réality of faith in op 123 ?

[@danielvs7080]

The best!

[@DazedConfused1969]

The beauty.

[@gbisaga]

I've spent many, many hours listening to these Variations myself.

[@gohanisbuckethead]

Very interesting is the resemblance of the final part of the last variation with the final part of the second movement of his last piano Sonata 32 ? They are also very close chronologically so it makes sense.

[@wuyipiano]

Variation 31 is so romantic... Beautiful play. Thank you Sokolov.

[@tarikeld11]

It's pretty baroque, isn't it?

[@AlvinHDavernport]

@@tarikeld11 to me, it’s like Beethoven smoked the remains of baroque over the smoldering embers of Romantic and created a proto-Chopin. The minor key makes it weep and moan with a lot of passion. It’s baroque in its ornamentation, but there is definitely a brooding, romantic vim to it.

[@TrebleWoofer1]

I love the tempo and caveman-like approach to the fugue - - I can hear and comprehend all the voices. Just wish KZbin didn't compress the audio so much

[@carolgreatguayanacreampies6221]

perfecta interpretacion!!!

[@Martin5656565]

54:24 - 55:17 ... the highest Beethoven.

[@PatrickDirksMr]

I completely agree...

[@PatrickDirksMr]

but if I may ask - What do you experience at that part personally? no wrong answer.

[@Martin5656565]

Patrick Dirks Well, I was interested in Beethoven's life for a long time and I know how he suffered not only from his hearing loss in the last years of his life but also of his mood swings and stomachaches (maybe caused by a lead poisoning). I can hear a really desperate Beethoven in these measures. I can imagine that he often had outbursts of rage sitting on the piano, not knowing what to do. Maybe that is what he is expressing here. The 32nd variation is a kind of a fugue. There was already a sign for that outburst in 53:45 - 53:58. That may sound ridiculous, but in this variation I once had a picture of Johann Sebastian Bach being tired of writing fugues, freeing himself with this beat on the piano/harpsichord in 54:43.. :) But I think everybody has to think of an own interpretation. Best regards.

[@PatrickDirksMr]

Thank you for sharing that! You are correct. There is a necessity of an original interpretation of Beethoven's music. You should give Var. 12 and 13 another pass through. Those are some of my favorites. The end of Var. 12... there is manic bass line with intermittent chords in right hand. Finally the legato of the parallel triads. I swear it scratches an itch on my brain.

[@Fritz_Maisenbacher]

+Martin Hirsch Of course , even the highest in Beethoven himself ... the complete abandon to utterly better forces than you and me , and making Beethoven himself better as he was .... (even if played here by the elefantesque Sokolov) (try Artur Schnabel for the right elevation ) , for my "sentiment" , this moment as a guideline for my entire life . Not less .

[@colinmurphy2214]

Variation 29 is one of my favorites you can find it at about 42:42

[@endy1121]

いづれの方面にも透明なる色彩有りて冴え渡りゆく冬の月の如し　気格飽まで高く無疵にて一点の申分なく最も優秀なる演奏者と謂ふべし＿＿Beethoven refused this composition at first. However, he reconsidered it suddenly and began composition. He hid the most important and beautiful memories that only between A and L understood in this piece. I don't have a beautiful memory. Therefore I always borrow gaps of a beautiful memory of another person. The music is splendid. Thanks a lot.　

[@tomjohn8733]

I've always find the music the great composers composed not for anyone but for themselves, beautifully introspective insight into their being... music you create or listen to says allot about that person.. very interesting piece considering Beethoven was mostly deft..

[@ethansaltmere]

the greatest piano work ever written? Maybe.

[@danielvs7080]

tHE BEST!

[@user-by7pz2yg4h]

Very crazy music

[@dannystoll84]

My jaw always drops at Variation X