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JAZZ F1 0136 *2CD* [8595017413629]
CLASSIC TT- 154 min., released 10/2005
OTHER MUSIC
DVD All three instruments used in the recording were built by Martin Kather in Hamburg. An
other Czech labels instrument built in 2004 and based on an original of 1761 by David Tannenberg, settled in
books, sheet music Pennsylvania, was chosen as the lower manual for the pair of clavichords. On it stood a small
archives instrument that is a copy (2002) of a clavichord of 1787 built by Christian Gottlob Hubert of
agharta t-shirts & bag Ansbach. The two-manual harpsichord completed in 2004 is a copy of a model by François
contact Etienne Blanchet of 1733 in the depositary of the Château de Thoiry.
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clavichords - CD1
Search: 17. Variatio 16. Ouverture a 1 Clav. 3:22
27. Variatio 26. a 2 Clav. 2:29
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32. Aria 2:19

Basket (0 CZK) harpsichord - CD2

1. Aria 3:16
Sign in 20. Variatio 19. a 1 Clav. 1:36
New customer 31. Variatio 30. Quodlibet a 1 Clav. 2:04
(1 EUR ˜ 25 CZK) For performers who have fallen in love with the music of
Bach, the Goldberg Variations are a great challenge.
Every such performer without exception will tell you so.
But what makes then so extraordinary and distinctive
compared to other great pieces or cycles by Johann
Sebastian Bach? Very probably it is the multiplicity of
interpretative possibilities that they offer. The grandiose
set of thirty variations on a theme (Bach chose an Aria
also to be found in his Book for Anna Magdalena Bach of
1725), is above all an incredibly rich resume of superbly
realised, perfectly thought out techniques of composition.
The set includes for example a series of canon
treatments in different intervals, and a highly
sophisticated version of a Baroque dance, while other
variations present traditional compositional forms such as
the ricercar, and so on. All the techniques and skilled
compositional approaches, however, are filled and at the
same time transcended by the unbounded freedom of a
great spirit. Bach here gave full rein to his inexhaustible
musical imagination. This means that the range of
potential interpretations open to performers is incomparably wider than is the case for
example, in various preludes and fugues or pieces composed in suite form and so forth.
This unique multiplicity of meanings is probably one of the reasons why the Goldberg
Variations has been recorded so extraordinarily often. I had two motives for adding my own
recording to the innumerable others. It was partly the chance to use beautiful instruments
from the workshop of Martin Kather, who lives and works in Hamburg, and partly the chance
to record not just on the harpsichord but on clavichords as well. We know that Bach loved
clavichords, had them at home and taught on them. The academic literature also tells us that

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ARTA - Bach Goldberg Variations 10/5/11 9:57 AM

organists who practiced on the clavichord sometimes took off the top panel of the larger
clavichord and placed a smaller clavichord on top of it, so as to obtain a second “organ“
manual. For me the chance to make a double recording of one piece was an unusual
opportunity to choose different interpretative angles. Each version required not only a
different tempo, but often a surprisingly different approach in terms of character. Phrasing,
articulation, treatment of accents and the acoustic differentiation of important and less
important notes – all this is derived from the specific properties of the instruments. The
advantage of the harpsichord is the resonant and transparent sound, and after all Bach
entrusted the variations to the two-manual harpsichord on the title page. The advantage of
the clavichord is the possibility of rich dynamic, timbre and intonational nuancing of every
note, both in the horizontal and the vertical line. But notes struck on the clavichord sound for
a much shorter period, and the instrument is generally dynamically far weaker than the
harpsichord. On this CD, for that matter, this ratio has been to some extent maintained,
deliberately.
Thanks to Bach’s first biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel we know a charming anecdote about
the Russian envoy, the Count Hermann Karl von Keyserlingk, who apparently suffered from
insomnia. He therefore employed the Johann Gottlied, a harpsichordist of talent or indeed
genius, to play to him during his sleepless nights. Supposedly Bach composed the extremely
long variation form to order, to help the Count get to sleep. In fact, of course, listening to
variations is so exciting that we would be more likely to go to sleep hearing a series of
thematically distinct pieces, while Bach’s treatment of a single theme leads precisely to the
greatest possible richness of musical form and literally compels us to listen. Evidently the
count was far from bored, since he rewarded Bach very generously for the excellent work,
giving him a golden goblet filled with a hundred louis d’or.
The listener with a sensitive ear and heart will identify many different levels of expression and
unusual corners in the Goldberg Variations. For my own part I find this composition is more
than anything else a testimony to the greatness of the composer and at the same time a
persuasive and unique musical representation or picture of our earthly life in general, in all its
joys, euphoria, victories and somersaults and on the other side in its grief and pains. Nor did
Bach forget the most beautiful spice of life, which is humour. It is not for nothing that he
embodied the melodies of two wanton songs of the tim in the thirtieth variation – Quodlibet.
Here I shall also like to bring up the question of the performance of the repeats, which in
Bach’s time were usual with the variations form. The Goldberg Variations is a work so long
that it makes huge demands on the listener’s concentration if all the repeats are respected,
and so I am not convinced that it is absolutely necessary to repeat every single part. In this
respect I am willing to meet today’s listener halfway and ignore the requirement for complete
symmetry that stems from a likewise legitimate, but perhaps rather narrow-minded or
perhaps mechanical view of Baroque music. It is certainly hard to decide which passages
should be repeated and which not, but this is not an insoluble problem, First of all we must
bear in mind the proper function of repetition in Baroque music. It was there to make the
form easier to grasp but at the same time it offered an opportunity to utter again what had
been uttered already but most probably with a variation of expression, while in some cases it
offered a chance for variation on the utterance itself, even if only in a small detail, for
example a melodic ornament. The decision on which part to repeat for the reasons given and
which not depends on the performer’s subjective but wholly legitimate view of the structure of
the musical form. In any case, in my two versions, harpsichord or clavichord, you can find
kindred or similar moments, and completely opposite approaches, in relation to repeats as
well.
We could sum up that Bach’s masterwork is an extraordinary adventure for both performer
and listener. Bach himself was certainly well aware of the timeless importance of his Goldberg
Variations, since it was with this opus that he crowned the great keyboard cycle, one that he
considered part of his musical testament. This is the fourth volume of what is known as the
Klavierubung (Keyboard Exercises). It came out in print while he was still alive under the title
of Aria with Diverse Variations, in 1741 (or 1742) at the publishing house of Balthasar Schmid
in Nuremberg.
Today people with a serious interest in musical history and theory can take advantage of a
huge range of scholarly analyses of every piece Bach ever wrote, especially in the case of
such popular works as the Goldberg Variations. The less weighty but “insider” views of
performers, all the more informed for their experience, provide a lively counterpoint to the
scholars. One witty example is András Schiff, with his delightful initiatory “walk” through the
individual variations. As a pianist, he is a great “fan” of performances of the Goldberg
Variations on the modern grand piano. But to be honest, is this music really suitable for large
halls? Is it understood by crowds expecting a virtuoso and amazing tempos? I would say no.
It seems to me that the most essential thing for the understanding of the meaning and sense
of the work is humble quietness. And therefore, despite all my admiration for the beautiful
versions from the hand of Glenn Gould and others, my favourite instruments remain those
appropriate to Bach’s time - the harpsichords and clavichords.

Jaroslav Tuma

More about instruments:

Clavichords
A large instrument built in 2002 and based on an original of 1761 by the organ-maker David
Tannenberg, (whose parents came from Moravia) living at the end of the 18th century in
Pennsylvania, was used for the recording of the Goldberg Variations as the first manual. It is
what is known as the unbound type of clavichord with a range of six octaves CC – c4. On top
of it stood a small instrument with a range of 4? octaves AA-e3, which is a copy of a

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ARTA - Bach Goldberg Variations
© 2HP Production, October 2011
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clavichord of 1787 built by Christian Gottlob Hubert of Ansbach. This copy, completed in
2004, is from the private collection of Diez Eichler.
Harpsichord
The two-manual model completed in 2004 is a copy of an instrument built by François Etienne
Blanchet of 1733, in the depositary of the Château de Thoiry not far from Paris. Range EE –
f3, dispositions 8´, 4´ (lute) on the bottom manual and 8´ (lute) on the top manual.
All three instruments are tuned to 415 Hz (a1) using unequal temperament; the fifths F-C-G-
D-A-E-B are a little narrower, B-F#-C#-G# pure, G#-Eb-Bb-F slightly wider.
(contact: Martin.Kather@hamburg.de)
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