# Variations on a theme by Ludwig van Beethoven by Guy Bacos



## Guy Bacos (May 22, 2014)

I haven't posted demos for a while, but have been very busy doing demos, but for a delayed release. I've been writing piano music in between as well, this is one piece I finished a few months ago I'd like to share with you.

This version is realized on the Vienna Imperial, however, it will get its live premiere by pianist Hyejin Pak in Cincinnati, October 8, 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05iza5wqSWY (Variations on a theme by Ludwig van Beethoven by Guy Bacos)


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## The Darris (May 22, 2014)

I am only half way through and so far so good. Very well done. I am a huge fan of Variation 4. Have you written any other piano works?


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## marclawsonmusic (May 22, 2014)

Lovely playing and interpretation, Guy. I really enjoyed this!
Marc


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## Cygnus64 (May 22, 2014)

What a great listen. Very creative, outstanding work.


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## Stephen Rees (May 23, 2014)

Guy Bacos @ Thu May 22 said:


> I haven't posted demos for a while, but have been very busy doing demos, but for a delayed release.



Really enjoyed that Guy. Bravo  I can see Variation 9 completely wrecking my fingers ha ha. Double glisses in octaves? Ouch! I always thought those glisses in octaves from the last movement of the Waldstein were bad enough  Enjoyed the tone and sense of space you have got from the Vienna Imperial too (it is my favourite sampled piano).

'Demos for a delayed release'? Hmmmmmm are we talking a new VSL library here I'm wondering, or the complete Dimension Strings? (I know you aren't going to spill the beans, but you never know….).


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## Rob (May 23, 2014)

Very nice set of variations, Guy! They will surely be well received by the concert audience, congrats!


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## semo (May 23, 2014)

Bravo!!


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## dgburns (May 23, 2014)

You're one of those guys that plays a few notes and I'm sold.You're one of a handful of people around that really inspire.there's something of you that comes off in the music and more than anything it's all about honesty.The extended chords and slight polyphonic derailments you throw in here and there,sound sincere and playful,and put a smile on me face.
music for it's own sake,what a rare thing these days,at least for me anyway.


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## chrisr (May 23, 2014)

Superb, as ever, thanks for sharing!


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## AC986 (May 23, 2014)

Reminds me of Mussorgsky and Pictures from an Exhibition.


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## emid (May 23, 2014)

I have never seen any one putting soul in midi work other than Guy Bacos. A very humble gratitude!


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## AlexandreSafi (May 23, 2014)

Fantastic work, all of it sir!
Variation 2 & 4 are my favorites. Magnificently written, harmonically bold and full of charm in their virtuosity!


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## Saxer (May 23, 2014)

wow :shock: music!


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## MrCambiata (May 23, 2014)

Just listened to the whole piece. Really beautiful, brilliantly written for the piano and full of imagination and humor


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## TGV (May 23, 2014)

Very nice. I would have preferred to hear the melody unaccented in some of the variations (e.g. 5and 7), as the variations are strong enough by themselves (as 6 proves). I'm glad there's someone who can play this, though. Some variations look really tough to me! Piano sounds excellent, BTW.


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## Guy Bacos (May 23, 2014)

Thanks for all the comments!

About the quadruple stop glissando, it's a bit cruel, but doable, even though there doesn't seem to be any pieces where this is done, at least to my knowledge. Some concert pianists have told me it's not possible and others have told me it's possible but uncomfortable, this is why I put an "ossia".

Really appreciated listening though it and commenting!


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## synergy543 (May 23, 2014)

Guy, your music gives me hope, and shows that humanity is capable of beautiful and great things.

Thank you for this.


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## John Walker (May 24, 2014)

Good playing everything already said.


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## HardyP (May 24, 2014)

That´s brilliant written music, really enjoyable!!

And not only the many (de)crescendos shows the greatness of VSLs Imperial… I cannot imagine, how some of the other multi-velocity pianos with their jumping timbres can even come close to this.


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## re-peat (May 24, 2014)

May I — with all due respect (and there is obviously plenty due here) and after having expressed my sincerest admiration for the at times breathtaking pianistic bravoura — sound a cautious and polite note of disappointment nonetheless? See, for a set of so-called ‘variations’, I’m rather puzzled by the fact that the theme itself never gets varied. It remains virtually unchanged throughout the entire piece, doesn’t it? There’s only a few bars in the whole work where a faint beginning of thematic variation is hinted at, but each time, you immediately return to the theme in its original shape, as if somehow afraid to deviate from it and/or transform it in interesting ways. (Which is all the more surprising as this is a great theme to distill variations, mutations and transformations from.) Plenty of spectacular variation in the way the theme is dressed up of course, but behind all these pianistic fireworks, there’s very little happening in the way of doing something interesting with the theme itself, I find. It’s a bit like those familiar montage-scenes in films when a character is trying on different outfits: the clothes change, but the person in it remains the same. 

So, I am deeply sorry, but I don’t think this is one of your better pieces, Guy. (And, please, read that as a compliment, because it contains the implication that I think very highly of much of your work.)
It's an impressive show piece, yes, a tour de force in many respects, absolutely, and it’s going to make elderly women wet themselves with admiration and they’re going to chase you with scissors to get a lock of your hair should you ever perform it live yourself, no doubt about it, but … strictly musically speaking, I have to say that I find this a surprisingly — as in: uncharacteristic for Guy Bacos — lazy and empty affair. Lazy and empty in the sense that you never made the effort to do something fresh and inspired with the theme itself. All you did was provide it with a set of glittering costumes. I'm pretty sure that you — pianoplayer extra-ordinaire that you are — could easily come up with another 10 or even 20 more of these ‘dressings’ (forgive me for not calling them 'variations'), the 17th even more dazzling than the 16th, you certainly have the technique and the pianistic imagination for it, but without true thematic variation, I fear it all will amount to little of genuine and profound musical interest.

My humble and completely personal opinion of course.

Anyway, like everybody else, I don’t doubt that this is going to receive many rounds of rapturous applause. And for some aspects of the work — the purely pianistic side of it — that applause is entirely deserved.

_


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## Guy Bacos (May 24, 2014)

Thanks again everybody!


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## michaelv (May 26, 2014)

Well, it's been a while, Guy, but welcome back. I just happened on this post, in my increasingly rare visits to the forum , and was not disappointed. This is a marvellous work of sustained wit and brilliance, that, I feel, fully asserts itself as a future , popular classic of the repertoire. That's not to say it's devoid of some devilish, technical ,er, delights for the pianists to show off their prowess. Those cluster glisses, for one, will have some tongues wagging, and fingers twitching. It's a piece demanding of clarity and accuracy. Its so characteristic of you. If I hadn't had known, I would still have recognised it as your work.

I'm not so much hearing Pictures At An Exhibition here. The piano original of that, is what I assume is being referred to. I'm aligning this more with the Rach Paganini Variations , at least in spirit. You should be proud of this, Guy. Even the thread's single detractor, the mightily gifted Piet, had great things to say about you, and I feel that despite a couple of his remarks being possibly…ill-conceived, he was very generous in his praise of your self-evident talents. For me, ill-conceived, in part, because I don't detect anything age-specific about the work. I hear it as having a clearly universal appeal. Plus, I'm one of the elderly now, so watch it, sir !

The question of what is a variation is a tricky one. Despite Piet's persuasive line of characteristic clear - thinking, I still feel that you have deviated from the theme's origins sufficiently to qualify it as a set of variations. His point is well taken, but there is more than one way to crack a nut. Plus, you do dress them in such quality and diverse apparel, and I nod in deference to Piet's wit in making that amusing analogy. For me the clothes are, indeed, splendid, buy they are not draping the corpse of Bernard Herrmann fame ! No. Your model is alive and well, and very fit, thank you.

What was said about the Imperial is very true. I really feel it withstood the most pianistic of pieces, here, and came through with flying colours. To call this an Imperial demo, though, would be ridiculous, so I'm refraining from that. For me, it's sounds like a real piano,playing real piano music.

Now, if you'd just come up with an orchestral version of this, I'd be very happy. BTW, I loved the YT score-rendering. That was really excellent and informative.

Here's wishing you every success for the concert platform, Guy. It's not every day one hears this standard of work on any forum: even here. Very well done indeed.


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## Guy Bacos (May 26, 2014)

Hi Michael,

The same here, I seldom visit the forum since the last couple of years, and to be honest, this piece, concert genre, being so far from anything "epic", Zimmer-ish, or film music, I thought I'd get 2 comments at best. So it's great to see that other genres are appreciated on VI Control. So many things you mentioned, but I'll just say thanks for taking this time to post these generous comments! And knowing your talent it's a double and triple treat.  About that glissando variation, it's simple, I'm offering a $20,000. reward for the first pianist to play it without any mistakes. Ok that's not true, just in case...

These variations will get the premiere on October 8, 2014 in Cincinnati, and other performances looks probable after that date by other pianists. I can perhaps post the video of the performance then, might be interesting for some to see the interpretation comparison between the virtual and live. The pianist is excellent, so I think I will lose! 

About the Vienna Imperial, sure, 100 dynamic levels, makes any pianists who enjoys expressing dynamics a happy camper. But this post was not about any promotion for the Vienna Imperial, just I noticed several people were impressed by it.

Thanks again everyone for your nice comments!


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## jamwerks (May 27, 2014)

Excellent writing! o-[][]-o


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## muk (May 27, 2014)

It's a great piece of pianistic bravoura indeed. But personally I can relate to Piet's comment. In my opinion the variation technique chosen is not the best match for the ambition of the piece. After all it's a twelve minutes long, and on a melody by Beethoven. In this context I cannot help but to miss thematic transformation.

I guess it starts with the "theme" itself. Brahms wrote somewhere that when writing variations, the only thing that counts to him is the bass of the theme. You are rather presenting a melody at the start. I couldn't make out a clear bass line (which you therefor cannot use later to work with). Of course as the composer you are free to use whatever you like as the basis of a set of variations. But in this context I'd have preferred another choice. Somehow your approach seems to be more suited to treat a theme by, say, Franz Liszt or Sigismund Thalberg, than Beethoven of all things. Because they composed in a similar manner and wrote pieces with little thematic transformation but of great pianistic brilliance (and that's neither better nor worse than Beethoven's approach. But it's different). Beethoven rarely abstained from motivic/thematic transformation. In my opinion it's a bit of a "Spirits that I've cited // I do not command." situation (I've changed that quote slightly because I'm sure you COULD have commanded had you wanted to).

In his Diabelli variations Beethoven wrote a variation on the "Vorschlag" of Diabelli's waltz, one on the chord repetitions. Even one - and a very witty one at that - on the pauses of the theme. He took every single aspect of the theme and worked with it.
Your piece is rather a set of variations on pianistic virtuosity with an unaltered melody. That's perfectly fine per se, and you really did a marvelous job at that. It's a great brilliant piece that shows your immense pianistic artistry. It's just that of all things you chose a theme by Beethoven that's very laden. I can't sense an awareness of the semantic importance Beethoven gave to that theme. And that's what I cannot help but to miss.

Now that's a lengthy post focusing on one tiny personal predilection. And I could have written a much longer one on the things that I find great about that piece (probably I should have...). But somehow I wanted to have that off of my chest. Most of all because your piece is very worth it. So, congratulations and my apologies for making you read through my personal nit-picking.


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## Stephen Rees (May 27, 2014)

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.


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## muk (May 27, 2014)

Nicely put


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## Guy Bacos (May 27, 2014)

I understand the point of melodic challenge, and I could of certainly gone in that direction, but if it makes it less interesting for some people, than be it, because that was not my intention, if the variations revolves around glitter, I'm ok with that as well, however, what one calls, and I quote Piet, "just glitter", I think was patterns well crafted, and holds the variation quite well. If you start focussing why isn't the melody more developed on every variation you listen to, you just stop enjoying what is there to enjoy. I accept it's not the same level as a "perfect variation", but that is my style, I like to play around with certain musical aspect and patterns, and it didn't seem to be a factor by anyone until it was brought up. Had I develop the melody I would of had to do many other things differently which would of weakened other aspects. 

I quote from Wikipedia:

"In music, variation is a way of organizing a piece of music by taking a tune (a theme) and then repeating it in several different ways.

There are lots of ways of varying a tune, and each variation will change it in a different way. A variation may play the tune much faster or much slower, it may change the tune by adding extra sharps and flats or other ornamental notes, or by playing the tune in octaves. It may change the harmony or the rhythm or use different instruments. It may combine the tune in different parts (counterpoint)."

I think what I did fits in that category quite well. 

My personal goal was that none of the variations sound alike and have the same character, that itself is quite a challenge. It may be different from what you would like or expect, but there was absolutely, and I quote again, "no laziness" involved. Maybe you should listen again without the focus of the melody being developed more, I bet you will have more fun listening to it. 

I must add something important. I do take criticism very well, in fact, though out the writing of the variations I was getting feedback and criticism by some friends, I was very happy to take their advice and make changes. So please, don't take my reply on this post as if I do not accept criticisms.

If anybody would like to talk more about this with me, I think it's a better idea to talk about this privately, either on pm or email me, [email protected] we can calmly talk about this.  This is why I stop going to forums, it gets the worst of me, but I do stand my grounds on what I said.


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## re-peat (May 27, 2014)

Guy Bacos @ Tue May 27 said:


> (...) I think what I did fits in that category quite well. (...)


I don’t think it does, Guy, I’m sorry.
Playing a melody in octaves is not really varying it, is it? Nor is adding a few extra sharps or flats, cause that’s merely embellishing a tune, if you ask me. As for playing it faster of slower: seriously? Does that really fill you with composer’s pride?

There’s soooo much else, soooo much more that can be done: mirroring a theme (depending on the note on which you decide to flip the theme, this melody actually generates a whole range of surprisingly useful and instantly inspiring transformations), playing it backwards and taking things from there, taking its phrases apart and reorganizing them, using the theme as a counterpoint to newly invented melodic material, adapting the theme to a different meter, scaling it differently or starting it on a different step of the scale ... and all of the previous in various combinations and degrees ... 

The famous 18th variation in Rachmaninov’s Paganini Variations, for example, is, as you probably already know, derived from inverting the original theme: descending where the original ascends, and vice versa. And look and behold the musical jewel which that inversion produced.
Brahms, in the finale of his Haydn Variations, begins with a bassline derived from Haydn's original St. Anthony chorale, then builds an entire (and magnificent) passacaglia with it and not just that, but out of that marvellous structure — it has to be heard to be believed — in which the thematic origins can’t be readily recognized, suddenly, and triumphantly, the original theme emerges again, soaring on top of the structure which was generated from it. That, to me, is thematic variation at its most sublime.
Beethoven himself, as it happens, offers us a lot — a whole lot, in fact — more thematic variation in the 9th’s finale than what your entire set of “Variations” has to offer, even though that movement is definitely not a ‘theme plus variations’-type of compositional structure. Just listen to its counterpoint in the vocal trio (_“Wem der grosse Wurf gelungen Eines Freundes Freund zu sein …”_) or the “march”, or the amazing fugato section which follows it, or the _“Küsse gab sie uns und Reben, Einen Freund, geprüft im Tod”_-section, or, finally, the entire coda which echoes the theme, or sections from it, in various new ways. The wealth of ideas, all derived from a single theme, is astonishing.

Can you forgive me then, with all that I know is possible and given the fact that the theme you chose lends itself so well to all sorts of imaginative transformations, that I was left rather disappointed by the musical contents of your set?

Again, I predict, along with everybody else, that it’s going to be a great success, and like I said, to some extent fully deserved, but even so, I can’t imagine that someone of your talent can honestly feel wholly and profoundly satisfied with what you’ve delivered here. Maybe at the moment the piece is still too fresh for you to hear it, but I have a feeling that in time you will agree that this could — and in your capable hands: should — have been so much more.

_


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## Guy Bacos (May 27, 2014)

I am certainly aware re-peat that the great composers have pulled of some amazing variations that are far superior to what I have done. But I am not one of these genius composers, like Beethoven or Rachmaninov, I'm plain ol' Guy Bacos who who uses his influences and be creative in his own way. To re-peat, it's hardy creative and rather glitter and laziness, ok, that's your opinion, but I'm at peace with the way I present them, concert pianists love the work and I'm happy with that. 

If it will make you happy Piet, I will change the name to "12 Zaniations" by Guy Bacos.


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