Thursday, 3 May 2012

Day 12: Variations on a Rococo theme, Tchaikovsky


Day 12: Variations on a Rococo theme, Tchaikovsky

As I haven’t got a copy of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Variations (for cello), written for his brother, Julian, and made popular by the South Bank Show, I thought I’d listen to Tchaikovsky’s Rococo variations, which are also for cello. Now, I’ve already told you that my favourite composer is Saint-Saens, but I didn’t mention that one of my favourite instruments is the cello!

Ofra Harnoy and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Charles Mackerras do a wonderful job with this piece (another CD from Abergavenny Music!). This was a lovely piece of music, but it wasn’t as obvious to me that this was a set of variations as I remember the Lloyd Webber to be, or as I know Beethoven or Mozart variations to be. After the theme is played there are 8 variations, which are played without a break. This was 18 minutes of lovely playing and helped to keep me relaxed.
 

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