Bies / Bach / Goldberg Variations - NOSPR

Concert postponed from 12th June 2022. Purchased tickets remain valid. For those who will not be able to attend the concert, it is possible to return the ticket to the vendor.

It was not without a reason that the modest title of Aria with 30 Variations has been replaced with a much more characteristic form. The reason is not that one must necessarily recall one of the Bach-related legends, namely that of the harpsichordist Johann Gottlieb Goldberg sweetening Count Keyserlingk’s sleepless hours of the night with the work in question. The reason is that such an extraordinary piece of work did require a more distinguishing title. The Goldberg Variations are the only, inimitable, ones of their kind.
Interestingly, the theme is provided by the bass line, not the melody of the Aria. However, in the way they mix various dishes of the Bach cuisine (counterpoint, danceability, virtuosity, rhetoric...), the Variations are a work of superior eclecticism. Nonetheless, the most distinguishing feature of the whole cycle is its melodiousness. None of Bach’s other pieces for a keyboard instrument comes near it in its subordination to the idea of a kaleidoscopically shimmering cantilena. There is no technique to distract the listener: melodiousness is the goal of each musical gesture. The contemporary grand piano, played by the winner of the 1st Karol Szymanowski International Music Competition in Katowice, can show this to a degree even greater than that available from the original harpsichord.

[Jakub Puchalski, translated by Mikołaj Witkowski]

Duration of the concert: approx. 80 minutes