About the Program:

Variations as a form and genre demonstrate magnificent skills of composers to develop the musical theme, to show it in different shapes, forms and styles using musical language; and to deliver the idea, that is concentrated in the theme all the way through the piece. 

I chose to present for this CD three different pieces written in the form of Variations. Those three cycles present different paths of development, both technically and emotionally, using the same musical form. In R.Schumann's "Symphonic Etudes" the theme passes all the way from a funeral to a victory march. S.Rachmaninoff's Variations on the Theme of Corelli is a deep, tragic and dramatic life story. And N.Kapustins Variations op.41 shows us unusual view on classical music through the lens of jazz.