Bright Memory V26.11.2020 Goldberg

Prunella Scales and Timothy West pass the tiller to Sheila Hancock and Gyles Brandreth, who are celebrating 40 years of friendship by making new memories together and learning new skills.

The Berkeley Ensemble returns with this album of chamber works by Ludwig van Beethoven celebrating the composers 250th anniversary year. Written in 1798, when he was already well-known in Vienna as a remarkable and ambitious composer, his Op. 11 Trio uses the rare combination of clarinet, cello and piano. Completing the programme is the original scoring of his Septet, Op.20 for wind and strings. Written in 1800, this large-scale work stands as a lasting achievement unmatched by any other septet before or since.

Bach’s music has always attracted arrangers and orchestrators – such as Stokowski, Elgar and Busoni, to name just three. Regardless of its original version, Bach’s music has an expressive power, drama and architectural logic that lend themselves well to expanded orchestral sonorities. Bassoonist and conductor Robin O’Neill buried his head in the Goldberg Variations, which he had discovered through Glenn Gould’s recordings, during the first months of the Covid lockdown. Soon after that, the idea of making an arrangement for orchestra began to obsess him as he began hearing instrumental and orchestral sonorities in the keyboard work. Since the main challenge was to reclothe the music without damaging the subtle intricacy of the piece, and after much thought and experimentation, O’Neill chose instruments that Bach himself would have recognized for the solo parts. His reinterpretation of the Goldberg Variations offers a mixture of full orchestral variations interspersed with concertante ones involving two, three or four solo instruments, at times close to St Matthew Passion-style writing. Completed during a difficult period, this arrangement was made, in the words of O’Neill, in the hope that it expresses the joy and solace that Bach’s music gives both performer and listener.

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The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, is a musical composition for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, it is named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may also have been the first performer of the work.

“An ode to silence” is how harpsichordist Jean Rondeau has described Bach’s Goldberg Variations. “I feel they were written for silence, in the sense that they take the place of silence,” he says. “All Bach is there in the Goldberg Variations … all music is there … and I will no doubt spend my life working on them.” To prepare his interpretation he consulted an original printed edition of the work, containing Bach’s own markings and corrections. “Through delving into this precious musicological source, I was able to make what I felt to be the most authentic choices.” Rondeau performs the set of variations in its complete form, with the indicated repeats and with judicious insertion of moments of silence.

Bach’s music has always attracted arrangers and orchestrators – such as Stokowski, Elgar and Busoni, to name just three. Regardless of its original version, Bach’s music has an expressive power, drama and architectural logic that lend themselves well to expanded orchestral sonorities. Bassoonist and conductor Robin O’Neill buried his head in the Goldberg Variations, which he had discovered through Glenn Gould’s recordings, during the first months of the Covid lockdown. Soon after that, the idea of making an arrangement for orchestra began to obsess him as he began hearing instrumental and orchestral sonorities in the keyboard work. Since the main challenge was to reclothe the music without damaging the subtle intricacy of the piece, and after much thought and experimentation, O’Neill chose instruments that Bach himself would have recognized for the solo parts. His reinterpretation of the Goldberg Variations offers a mixture of full orchestral variations interspersed with concertante ones involving two, three or four solo instruments, at times close to St Matthew Passion-style writing. Completed during a difficult period, this arrangement was made, in the words of O’Neill, in the hope that it expresses the joy and solace that Bach’s music gives both performer and listener.

A genuine masterpiece inspires musicians to adopt, adapt, or transcribe it without losing any of its greatness. Nevermind's four baroque aces, Anna Besson, Louis Creac'h, Robin Pharo and Jean Rondeau, have taken a creative look at Bach's famous Goldberg Variations and have made their own stylishly insightful 'variations' on the work. As they themselves explain: 'We needed only an informal rehearsal to grasp the incredible potential of a transcription for our ensemble. There have been other arrangements, but nobody has ever attempted this one before now, even though our instruments are among those most typically used in J.S. Bach's chamber music, in his many solo sonatas for flute, violin or gamba with bass continuo and obbligato harpsichord - and they also frequently feature in the arias of his cantatas and Passions.'