25 MICHEL DALBERTO Brahms or variations on virtuosity For many pianists, the two books of Die Variationen über ein Thema von Paganini represent a holy grail in terms of technical difficulty, an ‘unsurpassable pianistic perversity’ as Alfred Brendel declared them to be. The ‘Witches’ Variations’, as Clara Schumann called them, not only push back the limits of the piano techniques of the time, but they also make a genuine study of polyphony by evoking a succession of impressions and feelings within a strict architecture. For Michel Dalberto, ‘Brahms, like Schumann, Beethoven, Schoenberg, Wagner and Fauré, thinks of music horizontally, contrapuntally. Harmony derives from counterpoint and polyphony. The rhythmic element is another essential dimension of Brahms's writing, which borrows heavily from Hungarian moods. If I claim that the orchestra is implicit in the composer's piano writing, I can also claim the opposite!’
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTAwOTQx