Variations on a Theme of Schubert for piano solo Op.100 (2007) c.10'00"

Commissioned by Louis K. Meisel for Nadajda Vlaeva

First performed on November 10th, 2009 at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City by Nadejda Vlaeva

RECORDINGS

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REVIEWS

“Some of Liebermann’s freshest, wittiest and most unpredictable writing occurs in the ‘Schubert’ Variations, a piece originally for concert band and brilliantly reworked for 10 busy fingers. The composer takes Schubert’s rather insipid setting of Goethe’s ‘Heidenröslein’ on a stylistic joyride that features rapid bitonal embroidering, statuesque chords supported by left-hand octaves, Busoni-like pontification and discontinuous cut-ups.” Gramophone

“The Schubert Variations (after Goethe’s ‘Heidenröslein’) combine virtuosity and historical references in a wonderfully imaginative and at times bizarre way, incorporating not just the Schubert melody but also echoes of the sombre “Dies Irae” cant and the motive "‘BACH’.
Music & Vision

“Liebermann’s excellent set of variations…brought Schubert’s “Heidenröslein” brilliantly and expressively into the twenty-first century.”
New York Concert Review