专辑简介

Schumann’s Etudes Symphoniques, Op. 13, and Brahms’ Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Händel, Op. 24, are undoubtedly the Romantic era’s finest sets of piano variations. Yet, notwithstanding the well-documented relationship between Brahms and the Schumann family, these works are philosophical and musical opposites in virtually every respect.

The Etudes Symphoniques boldly take the Variation form into the future, particularly in the way Schumann integrates another of his early preoccupations – the piano etude – into the composition. The resulting masterpiece represents his crowning achievement in both genres. In contrast, the Händel Variations and Fugue stand as one of the most retrospective works in the Romantic literature. Brahms never really “loses” Händel’s theme in any audible sense, but instead infuses each variation with as brilliantly hued an array of colors, variegated textures and late nineteenth-century harmonies as any composer has achieved on the keyboard.