Alasdair Beatson - Schumann, Grieg, Brahms & Berg: Op. 1 (2014)

As early as 1827, when he was eighteen, Schumann’s diary mentions the “beginnings of a piano concerto in F minor.” That piece was completed in 1830 in a version for piano alone and published as his op. 1, the ABEGG Variations (named for Meta Abegg, the young woman who held Robert’s affections before Clara).

Cryptologists point out that “Meta” itself is an anagram of “Tema” – the “Abegg theme” but as Christopher Morley points out in his informative booklet notes, much more interesting is the fact that even at such a young age Schumann breaks the mould of the conventional display-variations on well-known operatic melodies, by basing his Theme on a rising phrase on A-Bflat (the German ‘B’) E- and a repeated G. In his introduction Schumann later inverts the series, a neat and cogent way in which to set the theme for the Variations to follow.