Johann Sebastian Bach - Goldberg Variations BWV 988 - Version For 2 Pianos By Joseph Rheinberger & Max Reger - Duo Monti-Bianco / Da Vinci Classics Audio CD 2020 / C00361

UPC 0746160911953

Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O.S. 21 March] 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the Brandenburg Concertos; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schubler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach revival he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.

THE SO-CALLED GOLDBERG-VARIATIONEN BY JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH CONSTITUTE ONE OF THE ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECES OF KEYBOARD LITERATURE AND A CHALLENGE FOR ALL PERFORMERS TACKLING IT.

THE MOVEMENT KNOWN AS BacH-RENAISSANCE, WHICH AIMED AT REVIVING BACH’ HERITAGE AND AT BRINGING IT ON THE CONCERT STAGE, CONSIDERED THE GOLDBERG VARIATIONS AS A MASTERPIECE WHICH COULD NOT BE IGNORED OR LEFT SILENT.

THE VERSION RECORDED HERE IS REALIZED BY JOSEPH GABRIEL RHEINBERGER, WHICH HAD BEEN PUBLISHED IN 1883 AND REPUBLISHED IN THE SAME YEAR IN A REVISED EDITION REALIZED BY MAX REGER, WHO SUBSTANTIALLY MODIFIED MANY OF RHEINBERGER'S DYNAMICS AND ARTICULATIONS.

IN THE SHORT PREFACE TO THE PUBLISHED VERSION, RHEINBERGER STATED THE REASONS FOR HIS CHOICE, UNDERPINNING THAT THE VARIATIONS ARE AMONG THE “MOST IMPORTANT’ KEYBOARD WORKS BY BACH, AT HIS TIME, “PRIZED AND PLAYED ONLY THEORETI- CALLY.