Pianist Diane Walsh on Broadway

Whatever one’s take on [Moises Kaufman's] “33 Variations” as a theater piece, it is an innovative and engrossing exercise in music appreciation. The pianist Diane Walsh plays extended excerpts from the “Diabelli” Variations, elegantly, in full view of the audience. In a way Ms. Walsh is a character in the play....Meanwhile, at preview performances of “33 Variations,” Ms. Walsh’s splendid recording for JDR (Jonathan Digital Recordings), available in the lobby, has been “selling like hotcakes,” Mr. Kaufman said.

Anthony Tommasini - New York Times (Mar 8, 2009)

Throughout we hear relevant fragments of the variations, expertly performed on the piano by Diane Walsh, who does admirable double duty as the show’s musical director.

Ben Brantley - New York Times (Mar 10, 2009)

...[W]e get an excellent live pianist (Diane Walsh) playing substantial excerpts from the 33-variation set, including some of Beethoven's rough drafts and false starts.... Not every pianist enjoys playing, and not every concertgoer likes hearing, the "Diabelli Variations": Individually, each is a pianistic gem; played complete, the set can evoke a discomfiting sense of obsession... What 33 Variations occasionally lacks in the writing it makes up for in the resonance between its parallel stories, in the bouncy excitement of its performance, and, most of all, in Walsh's elegant treatment of the 88 little hammers that produce an inexplicable miracle called Beethoven.

Michael Feingold - The Village Voice (Mar 19, 2009)