Franz Schubert’s life was centred around a variety of close friendships. The theme for the Variations, D576 comes from a string quartet by Anselm Hüttenbrenner, the colleague and friend to whom Schubert sent his Unfinished Symphony and among whose papers the Graz Fantasy, which explores a variety of keys and moods, was found in 1962. In 1821 Anton Diabelli invited 50 Austrian composers to write variations on his waltz theme, and Schubert was swift in submitting his minor key reply. The recording is completed with the early Variations, D156, dedicated to Salieri, and several relatively unknown yet beautiful fragments.