Bach, JS: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

Featuring

Thibaut Garcia
Antoine Morinière
Johann Sebastian Bach

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Compositional Technique

The Goldberg Variations are structured around a single Aria, which opens and closes the work, with Bach using only its bass line as a passacaglia for the subsequent 30 variations.

Interpretation

Thibaut Garcia and Antoine Morinière perform the Goldberg Variations on two guitars, an arrangement they developed together, allowing for a more expressive soundworld with vibrato and varied articulation.

Instruments

The two guitars used by Thibaut Garcia and Antoine Morinière for this recording were carved from the wood of the same tree, contributing to a 'synthesis of sound'.

Performer Biography

Thibaut Garcia and Antoine Morinière, both successful soloists, have performed as a duo for 15 years, a collaboration they describe as a 'synthesis of souls'.

Composer's Artistic Vision

For Bach, the world was intelligible and full of meaning, a vision reflected in his music's intricate balance of melody, harmony, rigor, and generosity, which the author describes as 'a theology in sound'.

Composition History

The Goldberg Variations were purportedly composed by Bach for Count Hermann von Keyserlingk, a patron suffering from insomnia, who had them played nightly by Bach's pupil, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg.

Compositional Technique

Bach incorporated numerous forms he explored throughout his life into the Goldberg Variations, including duos, inventions, gigues, fugues, toccatas, ornamented chorales, dances, and the French overture.