© Luca Concas
250 years after his birth
Tributes to Beethoven
Nikolay Khozyainov piano
Franz Liszt
Transcription for piano of the second movement, Allegretto, of the Symphony no. 7 in A major Op. 92 by Beethoven
Robert Schumann
Etudes in Variation Form on a Theme by Beethoven WoO 31
Fryderyk Chopin
Prelude in C-sharp minor Op.45 (for the Beethoven album)
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Variations sérieuses Op. 54 (for the Beethoven album)
Franz Liszt
Transcription of the Lied “Nimm sie hin denn, diese Lieder” from “An die ferne Geliebte” Op. 98 by Beethoven
Robert Schumann
Fantasie Op. 17 (originally for the Beethoven album of 1842)
Fifteen years after Beethoven’s death, no statue had yet been erected in his native town, Bonn, to celebrate him. And thus, in 1842, ten of the greatest living pianists (Henselt, Döhler, Mendelssohn, Moscheles, Liszt, Kalkbrenner, Chopin, Czerny, Taubert and Thalberg) set themselves the task of contributing to a collective piano album, whose proceeds (1,300 thaler) went toward the statue that still stands on the Münsterplatz, unveiled on the 75th anniversary of the composer’s birth, during the first Beethoven Festival (1845). Through either transcriptions or variations, Schumann’s Study or the free form of his Fantasy, the composers featured here show that they could not ignore this giant, whose influence was binding even on XIX century symphonists.
