Goldberg Variations

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations, one of Bach's most popular keyboard works, was published in 1741. It is named after its first performer, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg. Beginning with an opening aria, it is followed by 30 different variations on it. Bach requested that every passage be played twice. If taken at face value, the whole Variations can vary between 40 and 80 minutes in duration. Today, a variety of instruments have been recorded playing the Variations; apart from the keyboard (which can range from the harpsichord, a fortepiano, to a modern piano), the classical guitar(s), a string trio, a string quartet, a harp, an accordion, or an orchestra, and, most curiously of all, a prepared piano. I wonder whether it has been jazzed-up as yet? The sound of the piece, therefore, can vary radically from one performance to another. 

My favourite renditions include the following:
Goldberg Variations arr. Dmitry Sitkovetsky by Britten Sinfonia, with its Director Thomas Gould. Label: Harmonia Mundi.

Goldberg Variations by Mahan Esfahani. Label: Deutsche Grammophon.

Goldberg Variations by Murray Perahia. Label: Sony.

​Bach Reimagined by Rachel Podger and Chad Kelly with Brecon Baroque. Label: Channel Classics.

Goldberg Variations by Beatrice Rana. Label: Warner Classics.

Goldberg Variations by Andras Schiff. Label: ECM New Series.

Goldberg Variations by Trio Zimmermann. Label: BIS.

Reference: Stearns, D.P., (2020, September 10), Bach's Goldberg Variations - and All of its Loopholes - Keep it Indestructible. WQXR Blog. https://www.wqxr.org/story/bachs-goldberg-variations-loopholes/#