Album: Beethoven et al, Diabelli Variations – Andreas Staier (Harmonia Mundi)

Saturday 28 April 2012 19:51 BST

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In 1819, Anton Diabelli invited 50 composers to contribute a variation to a composite volume that was to be a snapshot of Viennese musical life.

Each was sent a sheet with the theme and space for their response, though the most famous answer was a set of no less than 33 variations. Andreas Staier prefaces Beethoven's monumental Variations with 11 miniatures. Staier's fortepiano is deliciously transparent, his musicianship revelatory.

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Album: Beethoven et al, Diabelli Variations – Andreas Staier (Harmonia Mundi)

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