Following the success of their Liszt album on Odradek, Duo Tsuyuki & Rosenboom marks its 10th anniversary as a partnership with ‘Variations2’, sets of variations for two pianos by Brahms, Saint-Saens and Lutoslawski.

All the composers featured on this release were inspired by the music of others when writing their sets of variations. Brahms paid a very personal tribute to his late friend, Robert Schumann, when he chose Schumann’s final work, the ‘Ghost Variations’, as the basis for his own Variations, Op. 23. We also hear Brahms’ magnificent ‘St Anthony’ Variations inspired by Haydn, which culminate in a passacaglia (a set of variations within the variations): a masterful achievement through which Brahms elevates the form into music of real depth and sophistication.

Saint-Saens’ Beethoven Variations, based on Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 18 (‘The Hunt’), represent his most substantial work for two pianos, running the gamut of pianistic technique to create an almost orchestral sonority. Reinecke’s Bach Variations are more intimate, composed for four hands at one piano, building to an expansive, virtuosic conclusion. Lutoslawski’s ‘Variations on a Theme by Paganini’ are based on Paganini’s A minor ‘Caprice’, No. 24, which also inspired Rachmaninov’s famous ‘Rhapsody’. Lutoslawski unfolds a series of witty variations: wide leaps, devilish trills and sinewy chromaticism, a lyrical interlude, and a thrilling finale.