The Music of Lori Laitman, now available as PDFs
Across Time — for piano solo
SM-000599381
- Composer
- Lori Laitman
- Publisher
- Enchanted Knickers Music
- Genre
-
Classical / Piece
- Instrumentation
- Piano
- Scored for
- Solo
- Type of score
- For a single performer
- Duration
- 1'40"
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Year of composition
- 2019
Description
In 2019, Melvin Chen asked me to compose a variation on Anton Diabelli’s 1819 waltz. Melvin wished to perform it along with other composers’ variations — most notably Beethoven’s — on a tribute concert to honor the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. Due to the pandemic, the premiere was postponed three years, taking place on January 18, 2023 on Yale University’s Horowitz Piano Series in New Haven, CT. The first half included older variations by Czerny, Hummel, Liszt and Schubert and newly commissioned works by Yale affiliated composers Aaron Jay Kernis, Timo Andres, Krists Auznieks Liliya Ugay and myself. The second half was a performance of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations.
Perhaps the very simplicity of Diabelli’s theme is exactly what inspired generations of composers to compose their own variations. For me, the most charming aspect of the Diabelli waltz is its opening gesture — a grace note followed by a quick little turn around the tonic. Across Time expands on this gesture as it navigates different meters, harmonies and ranges. The title references the work’s frequent meter changes as well as Diabelli’s reach across centuries.