“And then I just thought, why not put the two together?” This casual account of decision making, an explanation without an explanation, was offered by pianist András Schiff during a recent ...

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Two imposing sets of variations — Bach’s Goldberg Variations and Beethoven’s Thirty-three Variations on a Waltz ...

In 1819, Anton Diabelli, a Viennese music publisher, composed a little waltz and sent it to dozens of composers—he wanted each of them to write and send him a single variation, which he’d publish ...

Pianist Glenn Gould popularized Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations with his landmark 1955 recording. Might Moisés Kaufman’s Tony-nominated play “33 Variations” — running this month at the Ahmanson Theatre ...

Chinese pianist Lang Lang went from being just one more fresh-faced and precocious teenaged phenomenon twenty years ago with his debut recording on Telarc, Lang Lang (2001), featuring the heady ...

Among Ludwig van Beethoven’s prodigious gifts was an ability to transform the most mundane materials into something exquisite. Perhaps the most famous example of this is his “Diabelli Variations,” Op.

Owing to its Himalayan presence, Bach’s set of 30 keyboard variations is a daunting prospect for any recording artist. Lindsay Kemp speaks to Lang Lang – whose first recording of the work has just ...