“Solo” Bach

Artist

Benjamin Alard, harpsichord

Program

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Goldberg Variationen, BWV 988 (1741)

The Goldbergs Up to Date

Benjamin Alard maintains a very close relationship with Bach´s music, to the point that multiple venues have invited him with the prospect of offering complete works of his keyboard works for several consecutive years. Thus, the Goldberg Variations are of course a mouthful of haute cuisine, the most important composition of its kind in the entire Baroque era. Beyond its legend, which links it to the insomnia of a Russian earl, the Goldbergs are an exercise of extreme virtuosity for any interpreter who approaches them (pianists play it with the same frequency as harpsichordists and there are multiple transcriptions for other instruments or different ensembles), but they go further than that. In the Goldberg Variations, Bach masterfully combined two of the principles of musical art: unity and variety.

Concert with no interval