Ullmann, Viktor: Variations and Double Fugue

based on a theme by Arnold Schönberg (op. 19/4)

Viktor Ullmann presented his cycle of variations on the fourth of the well-known Six Little Piano Pieces Op. 19 by his teacher Arnold Schoenberg in three versions at once - for piano, for string quartet and for large orchestra. Schoenberg’s atonal miniature is extended here into a larger form, with the Gavotte and Minuet also making reference to Schoenberg’s Piano pieces Op. 25. The setting for piano is a virtuoso feat on a scale reminiscent of Max Reger. Of the original 21 variations in an earlier version which has not survived, Ullmann selected nine for his final version. An interim version performed at the 1929 IGNM festival in Geneva, consisting of five variations and differing in many details, is published as an appendix.