Beethoven: Eroica Variations, Op.35 (Kikuchi, Katsaris)

Among all of Beethoven’s variation sets, this is the most funny, good-natured, and consistently extroverted. There’s lots of hand-crossing (the second cantus firmus variation, Vars. 3, 8, 10, 11), pedal points both funny and sublime (Vars. 9, 10, 13, 15, 16), and only occasional forays into minor keys (Vars. 6, 14).

All the surface glitter might obscure that this is a very cleverly structured work – Beethoven was unusually proud of it (as well as the Op.34 variations written at the same time) writing to Breitkopf, “Usually I have to wait for other people to tell me when I have new ideas, because I never know this myself. But this time I myself can assure you that in both these works the method is quite new.”

For a start, Beethoven introduces the bassline of the work before the theme proper, and provides four cantus firmus variations on it before he gives us the theme – that latter of which also serves as a neat structural hinge because it is the fourth cantus firmus variation. Once the theme proper is introduced, though, the bassline continues to dominate the work, as fewer than half of the variations work off the melodic material the theme introduces – the rest explore the underlying harmony in different textures.

The way the work closes is also pretty nice – we get two slow double variations (which significantly deepen the work’s emotional terrain) leading to a surprising Coda in C minor. This ends on a huge dominant pedal (G). From this expectant stasis we leap into a fugue – not in C, but in Eb – on the bassline’s head, before another two slow, majestic variations close. It’s a brilliant series of dramatic structural steps coming in quick succession – a winding-down, an intensification (fugue), and then a call-back and unfurling into sublimity – that represents Beethoven at his very best.

It’s worth mentioning that within the main body of the work, there are groupings that naturally arise from how the variations are ordered. The first four cantus firmus variations are a natural grouping – each incrementally thickens the texture around the bassline. Vars. 1-3 slowly dissolve the theme, while Vars. 4-6 bring it back. Vars. 7-13 form a looser grouping, but in general have a fondness for leaps and pedal points (Vars.8-10 also prominently feature Cb as a colouristic device). Vars. 14-15 are both slower and more intense than the rest, and prepare the transition to the fugue.

00:00 – Yusuke Kikuchi. Bright, clear, open, precise. Exceptional control of phrasing/articulation: see the way the lines are tapered in the first and second cantus firmus variations, the sudden crescendo at 5:30, the turns in Var.11, or the beautiful, brass-like voicing in the ending chorale (21:25). Every line in every contrapuntal passage is perfectly shaped and projected – the fugue is wonderful. The risk of such ultra-precise interpretations is that they can sound too controlled, but there is a lot of spontaneity here too (e.g., the way the bass is varied during the repeats in Vars.1-3).

22:49 – Katsaris. Just a huge ball of fun. The work has an improvised air – tempo fluctuations can be pretty wide, and there are some marvellous variations of voicing/dynamics/articulation on the repeats. Like Kikuchi, Katsaris tends to emphasise the bass more in the returning material, but there’s much else: see for instance how quietly Var.4 is played the second time round, the wild LH voicings in Var.9 (32:11), or the way (different) inner voices are teased out in Var.10 (32:43). Perhaps the most shocking (/pleasing) variation comes in the repeat of Var.13, where identical repeated chords are voiced to imply an arpeggio up the keyboard (34:50; similar to Saint-Saens’ Op.52 no.2).