32 Variationen by Beethoven

with a freely composed second piano part (1996)

This work follows the example of the piano sonatas by Mozart to which Edvard Grieg added a second piano part, the original part remaining unchanged.

In this case, the first piano plays thoroughly the original text of the 32 Variationen c-moll by Beethoven whilst the second piano has a independent part completing, enlarging, commenting, echoing, mirroring or disturbing the flow of the first one. The writing process that led to the resulting music is hard to classify, being half-way between the arrangement and the recomposition. At some places, the second piano part can be seen as a simple accompaniment of the first one, while at other places both parts appear to be equal in importance as if they were issued from the same compositional process.

No doubt that some purists will qualify this work as outrageous or sacrilegious. But, as it was the case with the Mozart/Grieg realisations, the stimulus of such arrangement comes from the will of putting a well beloved work into a new light, giving a new interpretation of it by compositional means. The process is about the same as for the composition of Variations on a theme by ..., the difference being that instead of taking only a theme, here it is the whole composition that serves as basis of the arrangement.

There are other examples of instrumental parts added to existing compositions (for instance, the accompaniments Schumann wrote for the Violin Partitas by Bach). Another source of inspiration for my Beethoven arrangement was the Lutoslawski's Variations on a theme by Paganini that are in fact also an extended rewriting of Paganini's Caprice since the whole original violin music is incorporated into the two pianos writing.

Score

Score available at Geyser Music Edition