Three volumes in, Ivan Ilić’s Reicha Rediscovered series continues its revelatory reassessment of the piano music of Beethoven confidante and teacher of Berlioz, Gounod and Liszt, Antoine Reicha. The sole focus here is on the Op. 57 L’Art de Varier, 57 variations (the chiming of the numbers a subtle reminder of Reicha’s relish for mathematics) on a richly-worked andante theme that smacks of baroque counterpoint. Composed in 1802-03 at the beginning of his studies with Haydn in Vienna, it shares its F Major key with Beethoven’s simultaneously composed Op. 34 Variations.

Ivan Ilić

Boldly, Ilić describes L’Art de Varier as the missing link between Bach’s Goldberg Variations and Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, a notion keenly underlined in playing of nimble, nuanced dexterity that interrogates each variation with intelligence and insight. Also to be...