Beethoven was capable of creating an entire musical universe using the simplest of materials. In this particular case, a trite waltz composed by Diabelli gave birth to the largest and boldest of all of Beethoven’s piano works – the 33 Variations, opus 120. In similar fashion, plain themes are transformed into paradigms of good taste in the 7 Bagatelles. Moving on to the 20th century, Corigliano pays tribute to Beethoven by basing his atmospheric Fantasia on the rhythmic pattern of the Allegretto from the great classical master’s Seventh symphony.