A running list of my favorite sets of variations—the obsessional artistic form par excellence—along with some performances that are important to me, in one way or another:
- Brahms, Op. 24, Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel
by Roman Rabinovich:
by Shai Wosner:
Handel’s original theme and variations, from the first keyboard suite in B-flat major, HWV 434, by András Schiff:
- Rameau, Gavotte et doubles, last movement of the Suite in A minor from the Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin
by David Bar-Illan:
by Trevor Pinnock:
- Beethoven, 32 variations on an original theme
by Emil Gilels:
by Radu Lupu:
by Glenn Gould:
by Evgeny Kissin:
- Beethoven, second movement of Op. 111, Piano Sonata No. 32
by Ivo Pogorelich:
- Beethoven, first movement of Op. 26, Piano Sonata No. 12
by Artur Schnabel:
by Annie Fischer:
- Fauré, Op. 79, Thème et Variations
by Giulio Biddau:
- Marais, 32 variations on Les Folies d’Espagne, from Book II of the Pièces de viole
by Ensemble Spirale and Marianne Muller:
- Chopin, Op. 2, Variations on “Là ci darem la mano” from Mozart’s Don Giovanni
by Emil Gilels at the Seattle Opera House:
- Haydn, Variations for piano on “Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser”
by Kristian Bezuidenhout:
- Schubert, 13 Variations on a Theme by Hüttenbrenner, D. 576
by Sviatoslav Richter:
- Mozart, first movement of Sonata No. 11, K. 331
by András Schiff:
by Ivo Pogorelich:
by Glenn Gould—a highly idiosyncratic recording, the ending all the more dazzling:
- Franck, Variations symphoniques, FWV 46
by Jorge Bolet and the Royal Concertgebouw:
- Schumann, Op. 13, Etudes symphoniques
by Ivo Pogorelich:
by Sviatoslav Richter:
- Horowitz, Carmen Variations
by Arcadi Volodos:
- William Byrd, Sellinger’s Round
by Glenn Gould: