Bach: Goldberg Variations BWV988

Rondeau, Jean

190296508110

"The whole of Bach is contained in them, all of the music," is how harpsichordist Jean Rondeau describes Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations. To achieve the most authentic interpretation possible, the Frenchman played the variations not on the piano as usual, but on the harpsichord, the instrument for whose fragile yet energetic sound the work was originally conceived. Above all, however, the pianist based his work on a score with Bach's own markings and improvements.
He thus fully follows the composer's carefully considered structure, performing the variations in their complete form, with all the marked repetitions and with thoughtful moments of silence. "They were written for silence, in the sense of taking the place of silence," is how Jean Rondeau explains his view of the Goldberg Variations. After all, according to an anecdote, the work was supposedly created to be played at night: A highly gifted student of Bach, the eponymous Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, played the composition to a friend and patron of Bach's during his sleepless hours.

The work exhibits a perfect yet highly complex structure. The theme of the famous first aria undergoes contrasting transformations and shifts of affect in 30 variations, until it finally returns to the opening movement. For the 30-year-old Jean Rondeau, one thing is clear: "I will undoubtedly spend my life continuing to work on the Goldberg Variations."

CD x 2

Erato

1.03.2022

190296508110