Blüthner–Variationen op. 111

The time had come to pay homage to someone who has been a faithful companion to me for 65 years and has witnessed of the joy and pain I have endured during the writing of all of my opuses, from 8 to 111. Today he still shares my fervor for jazz music and our wonderful complicity has been preserved on my piano solo album, The Last Call...?* which I recorded at the age of 93. This “someone” is my instrument, an old grand piano over 100 years old: Blüthner No. 89293, model 190, constructed in 1910 in Leipzig, Germany, and to which I dedicate this Opus 111, the very last of my series of works for piano.

It is my hope that future performers will like the undeniably jazzy orientation of this work. (Julien-François Zbinden)