Goldberg

The Goldberg Variations are the most complex of J. S. Bach’s works from a technical point of view. All the harpsichord’s technical and expressive resources are thoroughly explored and used to great effect. The complexity, imagination, richness of ideas and internal references that animate this work make it a monumental piece of immeasurable depth. The instrument that Roberto Loreggian plays for this recording is a copy of a harpsichord made by Michael Mietke in the early years of the 18th century; exchanges between the maker and Bach are historically documented. Consequently, Loreggian is able to fully convey the complexity of this legendary work. An outstanding scholar in organ and harpsichord performance, Loreggian has appeared at some of the most important international music venues and at renowned festivals. Both as soloist and accompanist, he has collaborated with numerous performers and orchestras, recording his performances on several music labels and receiving praise from music critics, in addition to several awards.

The Goldberg Variations is the fourth and final part of Bach’s Clavierübung which was in a way his keyboard method book. Published in 1742, the Goldberg Variations were commissioned by Count Von Keyserling who was the former Russian ambassador at the Saxon court. Legend says that this work was intended to calm the count’s sleepless nights. The count was said to have asked Bach to write several pieces that the young harpsichordist, whose name was Goldberg and who was the count’s protégé and Bach’s student, was to play each day as a sort of “neuro-musical therapy”. Thus the name of the work we know today.

The 19th-century reclamation of Bach’s music, spearhead by Mendelssohn and then Schumann, was later to be further developed most famously by Ferruccio Busoni. However, another key figure was composer and organist Joseph Rheinberger, whose arrangement for two pianos of the Goldberg Variations was made in the spring of 1883. Noting that the work had been ‘the object more of theoretical appreciation than musical performance’ Rheinberger sought to clarify its imitative polyphony and where he felt it necessary, added new parts of his own writing to the original score, to create a viable Bach-Rheinberger composition.

J.S. Bach - Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 - Ji (2018) {Parlophone-Warner 0190295719371 Official Digital Download}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44kHz - Official Digital Download -> 238 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 162 Mb
Full Artwork (jpg+pdf) -> 13 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2018 Parlophone Records / Warner Music | 0190295719371
Classical / Baroque / Piano

The young pianist who blew everyone away at the GRAMMYs recorded Bach's Goldberg Variations as label debut. The Korean-born, US-trained pianist known simply as Ji is very much a classical musician for the 21st century. Having won the New York Philharmonic’s Young Artists Competition at the age of just 10, he went on to study at the prestigious Juilliard School. Described by the Chicago Tribune as “a gifted, sensitive young pianist who is clearly going places,” he has chosen Bach’s sublime Goldberg Variations for his debut on Warner Classics. “Classical music is never going away,” he says, “We live in very modern world, and it’s our job to live in the moment, but it’s also our job to respect and preserve tradition.”