J.S. Bach - Great Goldberg Variations for String Trio, BWV 988/arr. by F. Sarudiansky

Pawel Blaszkowski - Violin
Jaroslav Meluzin - Viola
Nadezda Golubeva - Cello
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Great Goldberg Variations had already so many arrangements.... but for Federico Sarudiansky not enough (regarding String Trio). This great Goldberg Variations arrangement is very complex and difficult to play as a chamber group yet it results in something both chelenging and exciting. Hope you enjoy our performance. Please subscribe and leave some comment !
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Structure:
Aria 00:06
Variation 1 02:20
Variation 2 03:29
Variation 3 - Canone all'Unisono 04:40
Variation 4 05:53
Variation 5 07:00
Variation 6 - Canone alla Seconda 08:47
Variation 7 - al tempo di giga 09:46
Variation 8 12:47
Variation 9 - Canone alla Terza 14:31
Variation 10 - Fugetta 15:43
Variation 11 17:18
Variation 12 - Canone alla Quarta 18:25
Variation 13 19:33
Variation 14 23:19
Variation 15 - Canone alla Quinta 25:40
Variation 16 - Ouverture 27:55
Variation 17 30:13
Variation 18 - Canone alla Sexta 32:07
Variation 19 33:37
Variation 20 35:01
Variation 21 - Canone alla Settima 36:21
Variation 22 - alla breve 38:15
Variation 23 39:38
Variation 24 - Canone all'Ottava 40:55
Variation 25 - Adagio 42:27
Variation 26 45:57
Variation 27 - Canone alla Nona 47:08
Variation 28 48:18
Variation 29 49:39
Variation 30 - Quodlibet 50:59
Aria da capo 51:58
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The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, is a musical composition for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, the work is one of the most important[citation needed] examples of the variation form. It is named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may also have been the first performer of the work.
The story of how the variations came to be composed comes from an early biography of Bach by Johann Nikolaus Forkel:

[For this work] we have to thank the instigation of the former Russian ambassador to the electoral court of Saxony, Count Kaiserling, who often stopped in Leipzig and brought there with him the aforementioned Goldberg, in order to have him given musical instruction by Bach. The Count was often ill and had sleepless nights. At such times, Goldberg, who lived in his house, had to spend the night in an antechamber, so as to play for him during his insomnia. ... Once the Count mentioned in Bach's presence that he would like to have some clavier pieces for Goldberg, 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. Bach thought himself best able to fulfill this wish by means of Variations, the writing of which he had until then considered an ungrateful task on account of the repeatedly similar harmonic foundation. But since at this time all his works were already models of art, such also these variations became under his hand. Yet he produced only a single work of this kind. 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.' Bach was perhaps never so rewarded for one of his works as for this. The Count presented him with a golden goblet filled with 100 louis-d'or. Nevertheless, even had the gift been a thousand times larger, their artistic value would not yet have been paid for.

Forkel wrote his biography in 1802, more than 60 years after the events related, and its accuracy has been questioned. The lack of dedication on the title page also makes the tale of the commission unlikely. Goldberg's age at the time of publication (14 years) has also been cited as grounds for doubting Forkel's tale, although it must be said that he was known to be an accomplished keyboardist and sight-reader. Williams (2001) contends that the Forkel story is entirely spurious.

Arnold Schering has suggested that the aria on which the variations are based was not written by Bach. More recent scholarly literature (such as the edition by Christoph Wolff) suggests that there is no basis for such doubts.

Rather unusually for Bach's works, the Goldberg Variations were published in his own lifetime, in 1741. The publisher was Bach's friend Balthasar Schmid of Nuremberg. Schmid printed the work by making engraved copper plates (rather than using movable type); thus the notes of the first edition are in Schmid's own handwriting. The edition contains various printing errors.

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