Variations & Fugue on the Name of B A C H by Nino Rota

Shawn Heller - piano
Recorded February 12, 2015
Live performance at The University of St. Thomas, Cullen Recital Hall Houston, Texas, USA

Variations and Fugue on the Name of B-A-C-H (1950) is without a doubt Rota’s pianistic masterpiece. It is the composer at his Neo-Classic best. Improvisatory in style, we have to go back to Chopin or Ravel to find such great intuition, capable of expressing such a range of pianistic sonorities, and a language that is so personal and fascinating, and at the same time so balanced. Using the letters of Bach’s name as a musical theme (B flat-A-C-H = B-A-C-H in German notation), the form begins with this four-note theme followed by 12 variations and a finale which is a grand fugue.