Goldberg

I decided to cultivate the tradition of recording Goldberg Variations. This 20th-century ritual resulted in hundreds or thousands of interpretations performed on various instruments and recorded on various labels. Believers collect recordings of this lengthy masterpiece.

The German harpsichordist and organist, Susanne Hartwich-Düfel, studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich (together with Ingrid Kasper); church Music, organ and harpsichord with Professor Hedwig Bilgam, obtaining Artist Diploma. In 1995, she was a prize-winner at the International Organ Competition Nürnberg (ION).

The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, is a musical composition for harpsichord 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.

A new recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's 'Goldberg Variations', performed by world-renowned musician, Malcom Archer on a harpsichord built by Alan Gotto.

These Goldberg Variations present new perspectives on a well-known score. Danish composer Peter Navarro-Alonso's composition is a note-by-note reinvention of the original Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach. Thus Alpha's innovative performance adds no additional notes in comparison to the original. It is merely through the very creative and extreme orchestration that the new composition gains its own life.

The dilemma faced by any arranger of Bach is to stay true to the character of his music while knowing he would have been far bolder and more imaginative. For this version, I have attempted to remain within a sound-world that he would have found familiar. I did, however, have two factors on my side: Bach's sublime and rigorous counterpoint and, in Craig Ogden, a virtuoso guitarist whose technical accomplishment is matched only by his Aussie ability to remain unruffled in the face of any challenge.

Francois Meimoun writes of this new release: “The transcription of the Goldberg Variations took place within a context of total respect for the original text. No change of notes or rhythms. The transcription is based on an “orchestration” of the text for four string players. As in an orchestra, all the instruments in the string quartet are not systematically required simultaneously: variations for two, three, or four instruments follow in succession.

Bach's monumental Aria and Thirty Variations in G Major, BWV 988, commonly known as Goldberg Variations, are presented on this disc alongside two shorter works by the composer - Aria variata alla maniera italiana in A Minor, BWV 989, and the partially completed Aria and Variations in C Minor, BWV 991, in the version completed by harpsichordist Alessandro Simonetto. Together, the three sets trace Bach's experience with the genre of the variations throughout the span of his compositional career: the virtuosic Aria variata alla maniera italiana is a relatively early work, from 1709; the fragment of what promised to be a complex set of variations in C minor, catalogued as BWV 991, is found in Anna Magdalena Bach's Notebook, which was compiled in 1722; and the Goldberg Variations, one of the pinnacles of the keyboard literature and possibly one of greatest artistic manifestations of the human spirit, were first published in 1741.

With this album, the Swiss harpsichordist Michel Kiener presents his interpretation of the Goldberg variations, which are among Bach's absolute masterpieces. Michel Kiener studied both piano and harpsichord at the Geneva Conservatory, where he won the Prize for Virtuosity in both disciplines.