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Время создания: 1806 год
Вильгельм Кемпф, фортепиано
Сергей Рахманинов, фортепиано
This powerful work dates from 1806, the year of the more lyrical Violin Concerto and Fourth Symphony. In form it resembles the famous Chaccone from Bach's D minor Partita for violin, with a short thematic fragment given equally terse variations. Beethoven's theme, however, is even shorter, a series of chords with a couple of runs thrown in, and there is a smaller range of emotion. The music is moody, or stormy, or melancholy; there is little light even in the brief major-key section (Variations 12-16). The work requires considerable virtuosity, with each variation presenting a different technical challenge so that it almost seems like a set of etudes. However, it is the sometimes violent emotional content that dominates. In the extended final variation the music at last finds its way into song, but it is a somber song which fades away with two quiet chords at the end.
(All Music Guide)