Following his impressive Beethoven sonata cycle, Stewart Goodyear takes on the composer’s Diabelli Variations. His performance is stylistically and spiritually akin to those of Rudolf Serkin and Leonard Shure for its kinetic energy, gaunt sonorities, linear awareness, and cumulative sweep. The close-up, slightly dry sonics make up in impact and clarity for what they lack in color and dynamic range; in fact, Goodyear’s sound conveys more color and heft in the concert hall than it often does on disc.
Following a bracing theme statement, Goodyear plunges head first into the first variation’s march, conveying its Maestoso marking with incisive animation. He keeps No.2 rock steady, yet generates tension by subtly altering the left-hand voicings, affectionately leaning into No. 3’s three-note upbeat, and linking Nos. 4 through 8. Goodyear gets No. 9’s often vaguely articulated accents absolutely right, effortlessly tosses off No. 10’s broken chords, and brings uncommon presence to No. 14’s bass-register chords whose gravitas justifies the pianist’s fast(ish) tempo.
Not everything is perfect, to be sure. No.15’s dotted rhythms are slightly square next to Stephen Kovacevich’s impetuous swing, while Goodyear’s terse treatment of No. 18 lacks Charles Rosen’s tender inflections. Like Alfred Brendel, Goodyear takes the variation based on Mozart’s “Notte e giorno faticar” too slowly, and he unleashes No. 23’s “BANG…scamper scamper scamper scamper” effect with surprising inhibition, given his fearless sprints through the Op. 101 and Op. 106 sonatas’ gnarly fugues. Power and assurance, however, define No. 32’s relentless fugue. In an era where few unambiguously great Diabelli Variations recordings grace the catalog as individual releases (when will someone reissue Charles Rosen’s long-out-of-print reference version?), I embrace Goodyear’s mindful mastery and integrity with open arms and grateful ears.
