Goldberg Variations (Arranged for Small Orchestra by Józef Koffler)

Featuring

Trevor Pinnock
Royal Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble
Johann Sebastian Bach

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Recording & Production

This recording is part of a series where young musicians from the Royal Academy of Music collaborate with conductor-teachers, sometimes involving sister institutions like The Glenn Gould School.

Interpretation

The performers on this album aim for a middle path in interpreting Koffler's arrangement, being true to Koffler, Bach, and themselves, rather than a historically 'authentic' or 1930s playing style.

Composition History

Józef Koffler, a Jewish composer, arranged the Goldberg Variations in 1938, finding a creative outlet amidst political circumstances under Nazi tyranny.

Performer Biography

Trevor Pinnock, the conductor, is renowned worldwide as a harpsichordist and conductor who pioneered the modern revival of early music performance.

Historical Context

Józef Koffler and his family were arrested by the Gestapo in 1944 and were almost certainly shot, leading to his works fading into obscurity for decades.

Composer Biography

Józef Koffler, born in 1896 in Galicia, was the first Polish composer to advocate for Arnold Schoenberg's revolutionary 12-tone system.

Compositional Technique

Koffler's arrangement of the Goldberg Variations for small orchestra segments thematic material and tosses it between instruments, creating novel and unpredictable interactions.