Beethoven Kakadu Variations
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Guarneri Hall released this tribute recording of Beethoven’s Kakadu Variations, featuring NEXUS Chamber Music with pianist Xiaohui Yang, in honor of the composer’s birthday.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Kakadu Variations, Op. 121a, for violin, cello and piano
Brian Hong, violin
Alexander Hersh, cello
Xiaohui Yang, piano
Recorded in Guarneri Hall November 5, 2019
Executive producer: Stefan Hersh
Videographer: Mike Grittani, Grittani Creative
Sound engineer: Christopher Willis
Stefan Hersh writes:
While Beethoven was famously a towering genius who created profound and serious music, he also had a sense of humor that is evident in compositions like the Kakadu Variations. Here, Beethoven uses a dramatic slow introduction in G minor to set up a bit of comic relief when a lighthearted tune from Wenzel Müller’s popular theater piece of the day, “The Sisters of Prague,” is finally introduced. The resulting variations span an emotional range from virtuosic to tragic.
