Bach: Goldberg Variations Reimagined

Kelly recognizes that the variations with cross-hand keyboard fireworks don’t work well for a bigger ensemble if the notes are taken too literally. He has, therefore, composed music that fills out the same amount of time with different figurations. He freely changes instrumentation on repeats so the music is always moving forward in some way. Variation 29 is mostly a harpsichord solo, reclaiming its territory after 75 minutes of extravagant orchestration. The Quodlibet of Variation 30 and the final Aria have everyone joining in for a big finish.
Brecon’s flutist sometimes plays the notes B, F-sharp, and C-sharp low (for meantone intonation) while the rest of the ensemble doesn’t. Those notes sound flat in that context. This is only a tiny flaw in a great performance.
I compared this album with Dmitri Sitkovetsky’s second arrangement, the one issued by Nonesuch (Nov/Dec 1995). That arrangement for string orchestra was to suit Sitkovetsky’s own style of playing the violin, sounding quite un-Baroque next to Podger. It preserved more of Bach’s notes, but it missed the character. The Kelly arrangement is much more colorful and beautiful.

It only took 15 seconds for this reimagining of the Goldberg to completely pull me in—hook, line and sinker I went. Of course, that this was Rachel Podger at the helm of her Brecon Baroque colleagues certainly encouraged the adventure.

Arranged Chad Kelly, this reimagining preserves the integrity of this intricate composition while adding color and texture with the ensemble of single strings, oboe, flute, bassoon and harpsichord. What delighted me is that the additional instruments do not overwhelm the work. It remains intimate and supple, now with just a bit more color and texture. And the performers are, as always, just excellent—technically proficient, perfect ensemble, delightful inflection and phrasing. All is entirely consistent with what I've come to expect with every performance from Rachel Podger and her compatriots.

Baroque violinist Rachel Podger plays the work in Chad Kelly’s ‘reimagining’, an attempt “to be idiomatic to the historical instruments used in its performance and to the individual styles and genres referenced in the work.” I’m fond of Dmitry Sitkovetsky’s arrangement for string trio, but Kelly’s version has Podger leading with flute, oboes and bassoon and four strings as accompanists, plus Kelly on harpsichord. The results are beguiling and hugely entertaining, this Bach outward-looking and approachable. It’s difficult not to grin when you hear the winds chuntering away in Variation 2, bassoonist Inga Klaucke’s bass lines tossed off with insouciant ease. Podger instinctively knows when to step back and let the other voices speak. It’s fascinating to compare the disc with Ólafsson’s – Podger’s tempi are by necessity more relaxed in the faster variations and the ornaments often differ. Flautist Katy Bircher charms in Variation 13. Several numbers sound like missing movements from the Brandenburgs (try Variations 14 and 19). And when the mood darkens, Kelly knows what colours to deploy, Variation 21 rich in fruity wind sonorities. Podger’s solo in No. 25 is heart stopping, and an almost orchestral-sounding “Quodlibet” segues straight into the aria’s reprise. A fabulous disc, beautifully recorded.

The first published version of Bach’s Goldbergs, soon after its composition, calls the work a keyboard exercise for harpsichord with two manuals. Now more often played on a piano with one manual – as per Ólafsson – this description has never limited other musicians. Guitar? Cimbalons? Saxophone ensemble? All done. The violinist Rachel Podger leads a “new” instrumental version: Bach Goldberg Variations Reimagined (Channel Classics), with the ensemble Brecon Baroque, directed from the harpsichord (double manual) by Chad Kelly, who made the arrangement. Heard “blind”, you might mistake it for an extra Brandenburg concerto – no bad thing. Podger is a supreme baroque player, and this is a bold and different way to think about Bach’s unfathomable genius.