Beethoven: 6 Variations on an Original Theme in F Major, (Mustonen, Lortie, Korstick)

The Variations can come across as slight (if very beautiful). In fact, they’re one of the most important sets of variations ever written, as they represent B.’s most successful attempt at large-scale organization in theme and variation form. A bit of context on this. The major problem of theme and variation form is that – if you think about it – the form has no natural sense of order or finality (contrast this to sonata form). You can, in principle, keep varying on forever, and once the variations get going there is no natural impulse which checks the momentum you’ve built up. One standard way of solving this problem is to use a fugue to end (or almost-end) a set of variations, since a fugue represents the most thorough and internally rigorous way of examining a theme – you put it at the end to say, “And now there’s really nothing more to be said about this theme.” This is what B. does in the Diabelli and Eroica, and what Brahms does in the Haydn/St Antoni. Another method is to imply some large-s