Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Diabelli Variations / Bach: Partita No. 4

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A master chef can make a masterpiece out of two hot dogs, a radish, and a dab of strawberry jam. Beethoven accomplished the same feat starting from Diabelli's banal little waltz, and some have gone so far as to say that his 33 variations are a satire on the original theme. There's a startling alternation between crudeness and late-period mystery that isn't easy to fathom. For the average listeners the Diabellis inhabit very inhospitable territory, and even after forty years I'm not sure that I am comfortable there.

But Stephen Kovacevich is, and this 2009 remake, in excellent sound, of his youthful 1968 recording for Philips represents a lifetime's experience. Age hasn't brought laxness; the new reading is faster and often more aggressive - as in the opening statement and march-tempo first variation - than the old one, and Kovacevich finds the right springiness to the more comic variations (I wouldn't say he's witty, however, compared to Brendel in his first, mercurial reading for Vox, also from the Sixties). There are times, as in the first recording, when Kovacevich tends to even out the stark contrasts among the variations, being most at home in the slower, more lyrical ones.

If you want a Diabelli that is as craggy as the score demands, Serkin remains a classic recommendation (it's too bad that Sony's latest digital version retains the harsh, boxy sound of the original -- Serkin wanted close-up miking in a day when microphones couldn't comfortably absorb the full blast of a concert grand at loud levels). Pollini is equally severe and intense. I like both, but when such intensity gets too nerve-racking, the fresh early Brendel recording lifts my spirits. Kovacevich's comes across as a seasoned view that still has vitality. Just be aware that if you require the element of originality injected by, say, Richter and Anderszewski, neither of his readings is likely to satisfy.

Comparing this to other studio recordings from the digital era (Anderszewski, Brendel, Kinderman, Perl and Pollini - of which I'm now becoming aware I really only listen to Perl with regularity, mainly because no one plays the slow variations more beautifully), well-known studio recordings from the analogue era (Bishop-Kovacevich, Schnabel and Serkin - none of which I seem to listen to with great regularity anymore), and my favourite live version, Brendel's from London 1976, who brings out the endless mood changes like no one else (GPOC, that is "Great Pianists of the 20th Century", set - prefer the 1976 to the conceptually similar 2001 "remake" at the same venue, available as part of a Brendel "Artist's Choice" double CD), I feel Kovacevich's 2008 "remake" needs to be swallowed whole like a live performance (that's what it feels like, even if it isn't), and should not be compared variation by variation to e.g. his 1968 recording (that remains impressive, but as a musical performance invariably has my mind wandering off). One might start nitpicking and give up after the first third or so (listening to the sound samples before ordering a copy didn't at all prepare me for how good Kovacevich's 2008 remake is, by the way), and miss what makes this new recording so cogent (huge mistake to listen to the Diabelli variations as if they were a series of etudes - this is no bean counters' music!): in its combination of spontaneity, wit and humour, long arch and cumulative effect (and sound quality), I really find it my favourite modern version right now (or then along with Perl, even if he falls short in the humour department), and because it's new, I'm sure I'm going to listen to it more than any other for at least a while - even if I find it neither better nor less quirky in places (should say whimsical or personalized, like it, after all) than Brendel's celebrated 1976 live performance, I'm happy to have found an "audiophile" version that invariably holds my attention from beginning to end (Perl's, to be fair, accomplishes that, too).

Bach's 4th Partita here is a bonus to me and not the reason I'd buy this CD for (much prefer interpretations by Gould, Kapell, and at this stage in my life perhaps most of all, the fearlessly slow Fiorentino), but note many if not most Diabelli CDs don't even offer a filler (whether at mid- or full price), and that if one hasn't already done so earlier, it can be instructive (and fun) to compare e.g. Beethoven's Variation 31 "Largo, molto espressivo" to Bach's "Allemande" (same goes for Beethoven's "adagio e sostenuto" from his Hammerklavier Sonata, or "Arietta con variazioni" from Op. 111).

Highly recommended!

Greetings from Switzerland, David.

I had high expectations of Stephen Kovacevich's new recording of the Diabelli Variations, but I'm greatly disappointed. Equally disappointed as I was by his recent recital in London, where the Diabelli formed the centerpiece. Like the CD, the recital left me cold. A middle-of-the-road performance, characterized by excessive speed, sloppy pedalling, harsh tone and, above all, lack of imagination and color. I couldn't agree more with the critic in the Guardian (Andrew Clements), who wrote: "Even his greatest fans could hardly have regarded this Diabelli as anything but a disappointment. There were just occasional glimpses of the unvarnished musicality that characterises Kovacevich's playing at its best, most notably in the trio of slow variations that come just before the end, when the world of Beethoven's late piano sonatas is briefly revisited. But even those moments remained earthbound, while many of the faster variations seemed cluttered and unfocused, with unpredictable pedalling and an ungratefully harsh tone. Such an enormous span of music needs careful shaping, too, but there was little sense of that, nor of the drama that can provide moments of light and shade".

My favorite performance of the Diabelli is the one by Gregory Sokolov, a live recording from 1985 (St. Petersburg) (Beethoven: Variations in C Op.120; check out amazon UK). Sokolov reveals the Diabelli as a daring and supreme masterpiece, with spellbinding, imaginative and colorful playing. A great performance on all accounts, showing both Sokolov and Beethoven at their very best. My second choice would be the performances by Brendel, Serkin and the young Kovacevich (his 1969 recording here). I will not return to Kovacevich's new CD any time soon.

P.S. This CD is much cheaper at Amazon UK.

Some of this performance is lovely and has Kovacevich's characteristic, almost unique muscularity. But stressful moments are too fast, rushed and uneven, only in that way which shows the technique is no longer what it was even as the interpretative wish remains strong. (Amateur pianists will know what that means.) Listen to variation 16, the boogie-woogie one that nobody has ever properly and totally rocked out on ... except for this very artist, in his astounding recording from almost 40 years ago. (The same period produced his still unparalleled, feverish recordings of opp. 110 and 111 and of the Brahms 'Handel' variations, among much else.) Kovacevich really got it then, got it fully and uniquely, but in this recording he simply can't duplicate it technically, showing frequently hasty, blurred fingerwork and flabby rhythms with lagging or muddied trills (listen to the ones within the variations surrounding var 16). Why producers don't say, Uh, okay, can we do that again, please? is unfathomable. One awaits the rest of Kovacevich's rerecordings with actual anxiety.

Good I guess, I did not like this pounding Beethoven; and the sound was somewhat brittle.