Few keyboard pieces appeal to the imagination as eloquently as Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations. A single aria allows itself to be stripped down and reconstructed in a dizzying series of thirty variations: a universe in which severe architecture and playful inventiveness keep each other in balance. Canons, virtuoso toccatas and a humorous quodlibet make up this masterpiece that sounds both intellectually refined and movingly human. The French harpsichordist and organist Benjamin Alard has devoted a large proportion of his artistic life to Bach. Since 2018, he has been working on an ambitious recording of the composer’s entire keyboard repertoire, on historical instruments and with sharp insight into the context of each work. Alard’s profound fascination is conveyed in interpretations that are clear, lively and exceptionally expressive. Far from an academic exercise, this interpretation of the holy-of-holies of keyboard literature promises to be a journey through Bach’s imagination: an unrivalled opportunity to experience a highlight of music history live.
Program
J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988
Performers
Benjamin Alard, harpsichord