Stephen Heller - 33 Variations on a Theme in C minor by Beethoven, Op. 130 - Petronel Malan Piano

Stephen Heller (15 May 1813 - 14 January 1888) was a Hungarian pianist, teacher, and composer . At the age of 25, he travelled to Paris, where he became closely acquainted with Hector Berlioz, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt and other renowned composers of his era. (Wikipedia)
Petronel Malan is a South African concert pianist based in the United States. She maintains a full performing schedule across the world as a recitalist, orchestral soloist and chamber musician. She frequently judges piano competitions, conducts master classes and presents lectures across the United States and South Africa. (Wikipedia)
Sources:
Sheet Music: imslp.org/wiki...)
Stephen Heller: en.wikipedia.o...
Petronel Malan: en.wikipedia.o...

[@lohchiaping8862]

Brilliantly played 🎉

[@marianot9652]

Very interesting set of variations.

[@Nodalema]

Interesting. Inadvertently, all Heller seems to manage here is to reinforce what a unique genius Beethoven was.

[@MrInterestingthings]

Exactly but it shows Heller was much more special than our memories of him. I need to read letters and accounts from his time because the musicanship and creativity here is FANTASTIC. Maybe not a Felix M or Schumann but he too was out of this world .Ive seen Thalberg more serious stuffhis preludes show a fine mind too ! ! What year was this Var.16 &17 !Of course there is some personality and interesting decisions Heller makes . when thinks this was a time when oe didn't have encyclopedic reserves of music at ones tips as we do now one can admire Heller's creativity . Var.6,7,12 really everyone shows he wasn't Schumann or Kalkbrenner but had something of his own (the slower variations show a musician here and the pianist here has real class! and on show he was special and was he from the boondocks or the city . No.20 shows he knew Mendellssohn.no.29's M7 and the use of Beethovens symph5 motif shows Heller was magnificently gifted and he must have known it. The originality speaks on every page !

[@GarciaAlisson]

Fun references to Brahms exercises

[@bjornholderbeke3110]

Interesting, can you point out which exercise and where Heller references it?

[@GarciaAlisson]

​@Björn Holderbeke var. 3 references a mix of exs. 22 and 38, and if you stretch a little, var. 25 references some of the arpeggio exercises too. But if you look hard enough you can find a lot of references to other composer's styles, like Schumann, Chopin, Beethoven, and Liszt in some of the variations. Might just be a coincidence, but some of them seem like some kind of quote.

[@bjornholderbeke3110]

@@GarciaAlisson Thanks for pointing that out for me.

[@lohchiaping8862]

Love it....the last variation could be more virtuous.

[@werukamauOfficial]

Another video of Beethoven's 32 variations made by Stephen Heller.

[@Martill3]

Interesting piece, thanks! Why would he write 1 more variation than Beethoven though? Hopefully not what was intended but seems purposeful like he wanted to outdo him or something haha

[@therealrealludwigvanbeethoven]

That's exactly what he was trying to do lol

[@emilgilels]

And perhaps to match the 33 of the Diabelli Variations? 🙂

[@therealrealludwigvanbeethoven]

@@emilgilels That is certainly possible; in the context of this piece, however, I doubt Heller consciously alluded to the Diabelli Variations.

[@mcbainst]

Not very well played however