Variation form runs right through Brahms’s creative output. The composition of variations on themes from sources as diverse as Handel, Paganini and Hungarian folk music was a significant element in the forging of his personal musical language from the traditions of Bach and Beethoven.
JOHANNES BRAHMS [1833-1897] · Variations on a Hungarian Song, Op.21, no.2 (7'30) · Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op.24 (28'33) · Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op.35, Book I (14'06) · Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op.35, Book II (11'59)