| Description |
This is a fully professional arrangement and all details have been tripled-checked for accuracy. Regarding 'liberties', having been taken with Beethoven's music, there were none. Only the octave registers have sometimes been raised for the exigencies of various instruments, and the cadenza between the two movements has been metrically written out for the ensemble.
This is a bloody masterpiece - it's Op.120, yet it's not nearly as well known as the Grosse Fuge Op.133, which is perhaps, slightly thornier to digest at one (or 1000) hearings. This piece, in keeping with the general tone of the whole hour-long Diabelli Variations, is plainly satirical, in fact it's frequently funny. First the Fugue and then the Minuet, lampoon (by then old) conventions ruthlessly. Reason for the ridicule? Beethoven found Diabelli irritating first, and his Theme risible second. The first reason was probably enough.
Enjoy! |