Reger’s Op.81 Variations on Bach’s Cantata No.128, Auf Christi Himmelfahrt Allein, are a remarkable combination of rigour and variety. The counterpoint is bedazzling, the harmony feels both titanic and open-ended (beguiling, even), and the range of textures deployed is pretty extraordinary. In this huge jungle it’s very easy for the calm, almost diminutive theme to get lost, but Schiff is extremely good at keeping it aurally foregrounded. You get the sense that it’s a very small rudder guiding a very big ship: the ship wants to go its own way, dragged by the undertow of its own contrapuntal logic, and the theme has to work hard to make it go where it has to. In any case, this is a wonderful (live) performance. The dense textures are parsed to perfection (the slower-than usual tempi help, and I don’t mind them), the climaxes carefully prepared, and the sense of menace and playfulness in Vars.5, 8, 10, and 13 is perfectly captured.
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00:00 – Theme, Andante
01:58 – Variation 1, L'istesso tempo
03:43 – Variation 2, Sempre espressivo ed assai legato
05:13 – Variation 3, Grave assai
08:43 – Variation 4, Vivace
09:52 – Variation 5, Vivace
11:26 – Variation 6, Allegro moderato
13:00 – Variation 7, Adagio
15:00 – Variation 8, Vivace
16:13 – Variation 9, Grave e sempre molto espressivo
18:54 – Variation 10, Poco vivace
19:54 – Variation 11, Allegro agiato
20:58 – Variation 12, Andante sostenuto
23:18 – Variation 13, Vivace
24:07 – Variation 14, Con moto
25:52 – Fugue
3:44; 7:44 some passages remind me of Godowsky!
In the fugue, shouldn't the tenor entry in the exposition be an octave lower than than the soprano entry (a fifth lower than written)?
danke
measure 316 bottom staff BACH
Var 3, eighth=25! just 1.25 times as fast as George Crumb's Spiral Galaxy
wow.. this is absolutely amazing… not only technically, but the clear piano sound, great colours, amazing MUSIC and feelings.
Maxnificent ! Thank you, AXK.
Greatest variations
Hearing this masterpiece is quite an experience, and this special interpretation of it only adds to my appreciation. It is awe-inspiring. Thanks for the upload of the music, and the score.
Any other pianists here get nervous just looking at the sheet music…?
Reger's mastery of counterpoint is superb. although he doesn't reach the height of Godowsky.
I like it.
Sounds interesting, unlike some other Reger piece I had listened to. I'll add it to my "Watch later" list.
This is my best variation set ever, i like Var,14 the most
Its amazing the amount of works we made even he died young. This piece is extremely difficult just to play it…Now if we talk about composing it…
Qué dolor universal se objetiva en la voluntad musical. Adueñándose como genio perverso éste. Para así, llevar al cautiverio de la representación auditiva trágica al ingenuo oyente.
reger = bach
Génie humain… Triptyque musical
"Like" on 24 November 2017
A peak of piano literature. Nothing less. Cannot stop coming back to it. Difficult to play (understatement). Giant work.
mit allem Respekt vor einem so grossen Interpreten, aber dieses Werk braucht etwas mehr romantische Agogik und etwas mehr polyphonen Klang. Viele wichtige harmonische Töne klingen nicht lang genug. Liegt aber vielleicht am Bösendorfer…
omg boring horrible
Amazing Reger, Schiff's interpretation is just super! thanks for sharing.