Reviews

• The Hoiby variations began life 34 years ago as a solo piano piece derived from the third of Schubert’s German Dances, D. 336; they were finished in 1979. The composer later felt that his musical materials required a larger instrumental canvas, and so he re-scored the work for nine strings and winds, changing some of the variations in the process and adding new ones.
  
  So idiomatic and assured does the music sound in its new instrumental setting that one would scarcely guess its two-hand keyboard origin. The variations move progressively away from the Schubertian outline, some retaining only the barest melodic or harmonic suggestion of the original. Yet the plaintive, bittersweet mood of Schubert’s laendler is seldom absent. A quiet lyricism predominates, occasionally broken by fast rhythmic activity: Early on, in one of the most striking variations, the tune is carried by pizzicato strings over a bustling ostinato. The soft reprise of the laendler theme makes a poignant coda, as if Hoiby, having created a modern homage to Schubert, were respectfully returning the music to its German roots.
  
  In all respects, it is a lovely, cannily crafted piece, one that will surely be given the wide exposure it deserves.
  
  John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune, 07/08/1984