Is an etude a variation? Is a variation an etude? There are few more useful compositional exercises than composing various variations on a given theme; and, since Chopin, etudes can ultimately be regarded as different variations on the same theme – the demonstration of piano technique. The three concerts in the 2026–2027 season of the Gábor Csalog Sundays series will explore and showcase the connections and differences between these two genres. Alongside Beethoven’s monumental Diabelli Variations, the concerts will feature variations by composers such as Mozart, Haydn, Schubert and Anton Webern, whilst the etudes will be represented not only by Debussy and Rachmaninoff but also by Gábor Csalog, who is active as a composer as well and will present a selection from his latest pieces. In keeping with the tradition of recent years, during the first half of these two-part evenings, the pianist-composer will be in conversation with music historian Gergely Fazekas about the works to be performed in concert form in the second half. The language of these conversations is Hungarian.

In 1819, the Austrian music publisher Anton Diabelli sent his own tiny waltz to fifty composers, asking them each to compose a variation on it, so that he could then publish these pieces in a collection. He could hardly have imagined that, four years later, Ludwig van Beethoven would send him back a colossal set comprising thirty-three variations. A work which posterity has described using the most varied epithets: ‘the greatest set of variations’ – as the English music historian Donald Tovey put it; ‘the most significant piano work’ – as described by the Austrian pianist Alfred Brendel; ‘the work that has the most exciting harmonic world in Beethoven's oeuvre’ – as Arnold Schönberg wrote of it. The Diabelli Variations are indeed an exceptional composition. This is due to its sheer scale (enormous in terms of duration, technical difficulty and expressive richness), its role in music history (this is Beethoven’s last large-scale piano piece, embodying both the legacy of the Classical style and the promise of the Romantic style), and the fact that it leaves an impressively wide scope for interpretation. We will hear Gábor Csalog’s musical interpretation in the second half of the evening; before the interval, the pianist and music historian Gergely Fazekas will discuss possible intellectual and music-historical interpretations.

Further concerts in the series:
7 February 2027: Gábor Csalog Sundays – Dialogues with (the) Music | Etudes and Variations 3/2.
25 April 2027: Gábor Csalog Sundays – Dialogues with (the) Music | Etudes and Variations 3/3.