I think Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Variations, written in the mid-70s for his brother Julian, a nascent ‘cello virtuoso, and a small band of the UK’s top rockers is one of THE great examples of variation form in any kind of music, and it’s definitely one of the best examples of that usually ghastly genre so beloved of record label execs: the “crossover project”. So, for someone who finds classical music “boring” or “ too complicated” or even “intimidating” that’s a pretty good result. And before you know it, twenty or thirty or maybe even forty minutes have gone by. That’s the fun of the variation form: your ear is always seeking out the original tune while it’s being simultaneously diverted by the invention of how the composer has sought to develop and often disguise that tune. As the form became more codified in classical music a melody was subjected to a kaleidoscope of melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and textural changes to create a long-form composition that dared you to “spot the tune”. It’s something that the human ear just naturally keys into -the desire to decorate the melody, add another line, vary the rhythm. Variation form has existed in one guise or another going back to the beginning of western music. Well, of course Variations isn’t a classical record, but fundamentally it’s a through composed work built on one of the most time-honored techniques of classical music-the variation form. That’s kind of odd, but still-classical? No way. No vocals, it goes on for forty minutes and, oh yes, there’s a ‘cello. How can that be? It definitely doesn’t sound like classical music: there’s drums, synthesizers, guitars and drums. Well, this may be the one record to entice that friend to think - and listen - again. “There’s too many foreign names and words to remember” or “It’s too elitist”. We’ve all got that one audiophile or music-loving friend who just can’t get along with classical music. "Variations" By Andrew Lloyd Webber Records "Off the Beaten Track"
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