Bach's Goldberg Variations performed by string trio is a singular delight. This performance by members of the CamerataRCO is one that I rank among the best, most enjoyable, performances of this work that I know. With the significant bonus of outstanding sonics in this beautifully captured recording by Bert van der Wolf, Northstar Recording, I recommend it most heartily.
Bach Goldberg Variations for String Trio, CamerataRCO. BarcaNova | Northstar Recording 2017 (DXD)
Johann Sebastian Bach wrote his Goldberg Variations for harpsichord. On the title page to the first publication of the work in 1741, Bach writes:
"Keyboard exercise, consisting of an ARIA with diverse variations for harpsichord with two manuals. Composed for connoisseurs, for the refreshment of their spirits, by Johann Sebastian Bach, composer for the royal court of Poland and the Electoral court of Saxony, Kapellmeister and Director of Choral Music in Leipzig. Nuremberg, Balthasar Schmid, publisher."
All probably know the story behind the creation of this work... The Russian ambassador to the court of Saxony was often ill and had sleepless nights. At such times he had his household harpsichordist, one Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, spend the night in an antechamber to play for him during his insomnia. The Count mentioned in Bach's presence that he would like to have some clavier pieces for Goldberg to play "which should be of such a smooth and somewhat lively character that he might be a little cheered up by them" in his sleepless nights. This Bach undertook by means of these Variations. Thereafter, the Count always called them his variations. He never tired of them, and for a long time, sleepless nights meant: "Dear Goldberg, do play me one of my variations." (Wikipedia)
The performance here is not for keyboard, however. It is a performance for string trio using an arrangement by Dmitry Sitkovetsky. And the music works sensationally as music for string trio.
Dmitry Sitkovetsky, with his permission.
Dmitry Sitkovesky (b. 1954), known as a master of transcriptions, is active as a violinist, conductor, creator, and recording artist (with over 40 recordings of his own). His numerous transcriptions are well regarded. And it is his transcription for string trio that we hear in this recording: transparent and sonorous, a thing of beauty to hear. Sitkovetsky's transcription set a bench mark from the time it was first published. Writes Sitkovetsky:
"When I first wrote my transcription of Bach's Goldberg Variations for String Trio, in 1984, it was both a labor of love and an obsession with the 1981 Glenn Gould recording. For two months I probably had the time of my life, musically speaking, being in the constant company of Johann Sebastian Bach and Glenn Gould.
"Generally, at that time, transcriptions were out of fashion and I recall that my own colleagues and managers were skeptical about such an audacious idea.
"Since then my transcriptions have been played all over the world, and moreover they have opened the floodgates of new interpretive possibilities for the piece which have included solo harp, wind instruments of all kinds, saxophone quartets, Renaissance viols and even a fascinating concoction of Uri Caine, among many others."—Sitkovetsky, HERE.
Sitkovetsky prepared a transcription for string orchestra in 1992, and then revisited his original transcription for string trio for a revision. In an email to me, he says, "I played and recorded the string orchestra version of 1992/95 and it affected the revision. In the string orchestra version, I hardly took any repeats to make room for 15 Sinfonias which we recorded on the same Nimbus disc in 2010. Therefore the new version is closer to Gould’s 1st recording of 1955 both in tempos and mood." The liner notes by the CamerataRCO don't specify whether they use the original 1984 transcription or the later revision, and I haven't tried to sort this by listening for the repeats. Whichever they play, it is simply elegant, full of life, full of energy, and music we all need to hear.
Following the success his Goldberg transcriptions, Sitkovetsky has gone on to arrange over 50 works of major repertoire by composers such as Bartók, Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Schnittke, Shostakovich and Stravinsky. In 2015, he unveiled his transcription of Stravinsky's Le baiser de la fée, commissioned by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and a new multi-genre/multimedia work, Devil, Soldier & Violin (inspired by Stravinsky's L'histoire du soldat) premiered in Moscow's Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in 2017.
Dmitry Sitkovetsky in concert.
Sitkovetsky always knew he was "predestined" to be a performer and musician. His mother, Bella Davidovich, the winner of the Chopin Competition in 1949, came from a family of 3 generations of musicians; his father, Julian Sitkovetsky, was the winner of several International competitions and had already established himself as a violinist and artist of exceptional quality at the time of his untimely death at the age of 32. Sitkovetsky grew up in Moscow and entered the Moscow Conservatory. In 1977, aged 22, he decided to leave the Soviet Union and travelled to New York City where he immediately began studying at the Juilliard School.
Since 1987 Sitkovetsky has resided in London, and since 2003, Sitkovetsky has served as the Music Director of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina, while pursuing an active international performance schedule as violinist and guest conductor.
The CamerataRCO members, recording session in the Singel Church, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, June 7 - 9, 2016.
The CamerataRCO is comprised of members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In this outing, the members include Annabeth Webb (violin), Jeroen Woudstra (viola), and Honorine Schaeffer (cello).
Playing on modern instruments with minimal vibrato, our performers deliver a fully engaging, highly energetic performance of the Variations. Their pacing is robust where needed, searching where called for, and always alert with excellent ensemble. These are performances to simply sit back and enjoy.
For the past several days, I've had great fun listening to alternative performances of the Goldberg Variations, for harpsichord, for piano, for organ, for string trio, for orchestra… (No, I've not yet listened to a transcription for saxophone quartet, but I may look for one.) It's been very instructive to queue up Variation V and listen first to Gould 1955, then Gould 1981, and on to Kenneth Gilbert, Gustav Leonhardt and Karl Richter on harpsichord, and then Angela Hewitt, Andras Schiff, Murray Perahia, Lang Lang (ack!), the legendary Wanda Landowski, and Lazlo Borbely on piano, and then to Sitkovetsky's masterful and creative transcription for orchestra with the NES Chamber Orchestra. Whew!
They are all very different, they are all worth hearing. And I would place the CamerataRCO in the top ranks of the performances I know. If you've ever found yourself tired of keyboard renditions, or found your mind wandering with the repetitiveness that can be with variations, give this recording a listen. I think you may be delighted to find how interesting and engaging this music is when performed on strings by an excellent ensemble using this masterful Sitkovetsky transcription.
As Dmitry Sitkovetsky writes in his comments on this transcription, "I hope listeners will share in my life-long journey through the Goldberg Variations and my love of the music. Indeed, in the very first publication of the Variations, in 1742, J. S. Bach states that the spirit of the piece is 'for the enjoyment of music lovers.' "
Recording engineer Bert van der Wolf, Northstar Recording, listening to playback during the recording sessions, with members of the CamerataRCO behind him.
The sound quality of this album is exceptional—another outstanding recording from independent producer and recording engineer Bert van der Wolf, Northstar Recording. I've written multiple times about Bert's recordings. As I've said elsewhere, Bert is one of the top recording engineers working today and I enjoy his work immensely.
Images courtesy of BarcaNova and Northstar Recording, except as noted.
