BEETHOVEN VARIATIONS FESTIVAL

La Nouvelle Athènes creates "for the future" a collection of videos on period pianos

LA VARIATION, UNE DIMENSION CRÉATRICE CHEZ BEETHOVEN

The genre of the variation is the main theme of this festival in order to highlight a part of Beethoven's output that is less frequently performed, but which was nevertheless of great importance in the evolution of his writing. We wish to compare and dialogue the autonomous cycles of variations with the forms of variations integrated in other types of composition. In the course of his work, Beethoven experimented with variation in a wide range of effects, characters, writing typologies, figurations, structural relationships and motivic development.
If the "Diabelli" variations are considered the culmination and the most widely representative of this "laboratory," in reality the seeds of a daring and innovative experimentation are already to be found in the lesser-known early cycles, in the sense of a search for a "transformation" of the theme that distances itself from previous traditions and builds new bridges.
A good reason to revive these apparently marginal works, often capable of enlightening the aesthetic choices of the most frequented repertoire.
Edoardo Torbianelli, member of the artistic committee of La Nouvelle Athènes