Bach's Goldberg Variations were originally believed to be a commission from an insomniac, Count Hermann Carl von Keyserlingk, the Russian ambassador to the Court of Saxony, to be played by his musician Johann Gottlieb Goldberg.
Performer Biography
Lang Lang, the pianist on this album, has been studying Bach's Goldberg Variations for over 20 years, considering it a lifelong dream to record them.
Compositional Technique
The final section of the Goldberg Variations includes a 'Quodlibet,' a musical joke combining two well-known, bawdy German folk songs.
Interpretation
Lang Lang visited Arnstadt, where J. S. Bach took his first job as an organist, to play the Baroque organ Bach himself played, to understand the rhythm and pulse of the Baroque style.
Compositional Technique
The Goldberg Variations have a strict, almost mathematical structure, where every third variation is a canon, a compositional technique where one melodic line is imitated by another.
Recording & Production
This album features two distinct recordings of the Goldberg Variations: one made in a studio and another recorded live in Leipzig's St. Thomas Church, where Bach is buried.
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