Careful, you don’t want to miss this! For ten years, there have been so many Goldberg Variations invading the market, both on piano and on harpsichord, that we didn’t expect to be so surprised, to feel such amazement. After several absolutely fascinating projects, first with Pan Classics (Scarlatti, Soler), then a first album with Harmonia Mundi devoted to Padre Soler rare Sonatas (awarded with a Qobuzism), here again comes Spanish harpsichordist Diego Ares—born in Vigo in 1983—playing Johann Sebastian Bach, with probably one of the Cantor’s most complex works; Diego Ares astonishes with his rigor, his imagination and his freedom, both in the phrasing, the registrations, the ornamentation, the sense of surprise (Variation 25). The harmonies sound implacable, often harsh, yet still radiate in a supreme way (Variation 28); this is the left hand, full and musical, but above all incredibly flexible, that is also able to rear up, to create sometimes surprising suspensions in time, always fluid and coherent, which opens real places of communication and distinguish the amazing narrative sense deployed by Diego Ares throughout this interpretation. © Pierre-Yves Lascar/Qobuz

As historian Will Durant once said, "nothing is new except arrangement." And while Durant was speaking about the moral ideas of Jesus, he might as well have been speaking of this highly unusual arrangement of Bach's Goldberg Variations for three, sometimes four, saxophones by the trio, sometimes quartet, ensemble Sax Allemande. Sure, it takes some getting used to -- after all, a blown brass saxophone ensemble is an entirely different musical beast than a plucked-string, two-manual harpsichord -- but once you make the adjustment, the effect is amazing. It's amazing because it's so beautiful, amazing because it's so musical, and most of all amazing because it's so impossibly but wonderfully appropriate. Part of the reason it's amazing is that the Sax Allemande is a subtle, sensitive, soulful ensemble with absolutely unbelievable individual and collective technique. No matter what Bach or the arrangement throws at them, the players knock it out of the park. And part of the reason it's amazing is that the music itself is seemingly indestructible. In a very real sense, it doesn't seem to matter what instrument or combination of instruments play the Goldberg -- harpsichord, piano, string trio, sax trio, whatever -- as long as it's played well, the piece holds up as one of the great monuments of Western music. While clearly not for everyone, anyone with an open mind and an open heart will surely enjoy this disc. From another room, Farao Classics' digital sound could easily be mistaken for the real thing. © TiVo

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There are those for whom playing Bach's Goldberg Variations on anything but a harpsichord is an aesthetic sin. The work, they argue, was written to be played on the harpsichord and any other instrument is simply wrong. Then there are those for whom playing the Goldberg Variations on anything but a modern piano is an aesthetic mistake. The work, they contend, may have been written to be played on the harpsichord, but that is no reason to deny the music the clarity and power of the modern concert grand. Both sides have their points, but there is another alternative: how about performing the Goldberg Variations in Dmitry Sitkovetsky's arrangement as a string trio? True, Bach himself never envisioned such a possibility -- indeed, there was no such ensemble as a string trio in his day -- but think of the possibilities. For one thing, a string trio has a homogenous sound and a beautiful blend. But a trio of performers brings something to the work that no single performer can possibly match, to wit, three players each with their own individual musical personalities, and the result can be more than the sum of its parts. That is certainly the case in this superb 2008 Neos release by the Swiss Chamber Soloists. Violinist Hanna Weinmeister, violist Jürg Dähler, and cellist Thomas Grossenbacher are all first-class players with focused tones and strong techniques, and they are supremely sympathetic to the music and each other. With sparing use of vibrato and a supple sense of rhythm, the Swiss players make a three-way conversation out of Bach's variations, thereby revealing aspects of the work that single keyboard players cannot hope to explore. Here, the canons sound like real canons and the slow movements sound deeper, darker, and more intimate. Recorded in vivid super audio sound, this disc may not persuade purists, but it may well thrill chamber music fans. © TiVo

This is a reissue of a classic Leonhardt performance. What makes it a classic is Leonhardt's ideal combination of extremely skillful technique and musical understanding, not only of the various forms Bach uses throughout the Goldberg Variations (fugue, canon, etc.) but also of the character of each variation. The opening Aria is an aria, sung by the right hand to the accompaniment of a counter-melody in the left hand. Then follow the variations. The slower ones are impressive for Leonhardt's thoughtful approach, and the faster ones are impressive for their brilliance and speed. Leonhardt has no trouble quickly switching character and mood between variations. Variation 14 is one of those fast ones, where you wonder how he can achieve such speed, immediately followed by a vastly contrasting, slow canon. Just after that is the grand, imposing, and complex overture that opens the second half of the work. Variation 25 is fascinating in its almost improvisational sound. It's followed by another that shows off Leonhardt's incredible dexterity. Leonhardt's reading gives you a greater understanding of the genius of Bach and the Goldberg Variations, but it is also a lively, imaginative, and thoroughly engaging performance.© TiVo

Whether it was ever the intention to perform the Goldberg Variations in their entirety will always remain an open question. Contemporary reports from the circle of Johann Sebastian Bach, who composed this work around 1740, point in a different direction. Around 1800, based on information from Bach’s sons, Johann Nicolaus Forkel tells of the sleepless nights of Count Hermann Carl von Keyserlingk, at that time (1733–1745) Russian envoy in Dresden. Keyserlingk requested that his friend Bach make this persistent insomnia more bearable with music from his own hand. Bach hoped that a work with variations on a bass line would best satisfy this desire. Keyserlingk then asked his house harpsichordist, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg (after whose name this work became known), occasionally to play one or more of ‘his’ variations. However, it is the whole and integral performance of this set of variations that has acquired a permanent place in the repertoire of many a harpsichordist and pianist. By opting for an integral performance, the interpreter is expected to determine his thoughts in relation to the question of how the various variations relate to each other. It is completely unclear where the idea of playing variations in different tempi comes from. The original score from 1741 gives only one tempo indication (at variation 15 andante), although two other indications (at variation 16 and variation 22) imply a specific tempo. Editions with tempo indications for each individual variation cannot be found until the middle of the nineteenth century, which reveals the need for clear tempo differentiations, obviously an expression of a Romantic spirit. This attitude, however, contradicts the Baroque aesthetic of regularity and symmetry. Bach wrote the variations in different time signatures. Against this background, the question arises as to how this standard or uniform tempo is to be maintained. The answer can be found in the last bar of variation 26, where the notation of the rests deviates from the usual in a 18/16 time signature. The subdivision of the rhythmic accents thus shifts from 2 x 3 to 3 x 2 semiquavers. This last subdivision corresponds to the rhythmic accents in a 6/8 bar, the time signature of variation 27. Since, according to sources from Bach’s circle (including Kirnberger), the 8-denominator metres are to be understood fundamentally as triplet subdivisions of the 4-denominators, it quickly becomes clear that a uniform pulse is recognisable in the various variations and time signatures, which is based on the quarter-note of the Aria and can thus be regarded as the starting point for the choice of tempo. The present recording draws precisely on this idea; a uniform pulse creates a great unity in the work and lets the bass line work as a kind of ‘mantra’ which, despite the fact that this is anything but soporific music, allows the listener to experience a "swaying" cadence. © Albert-Jan Roelofs/Neos Music