Bach: Goldberg-Variationen, BWV 988 – Matteo Pasqualini

The idea of ​​variation is one of the guiding principles of making music, and not only in Western music. Unlike literature, where repetitions are not appreciated, music enjoys listening to what has already been proposed, especially when there is a good balance between what is already known and what is new. The Goldberg Variations of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) represent an example, perhaps “the example”, of this. Bach published these Variations as Part IV of the Clavierübung, a four-volume series of keyboard works selected from his best. In the work there are thirty variations on an unforgettable Aria, which is repeated at the end of the cycle, thus bringing the total to thirty-two; this number corresponds to that of the bars of the Aria, thus establishing a refined symmetry. Matteo Pasqualini, organist and harpsichordist of great refinement and sensitivity, proposes the execution of this monument to music on the instrument for which it was originally conceived and which is today, almost incredibly, of rare listening given the great predilection of pianists and not only that they have proposed innumerable transcriptions, arrangements and adaptations, bringing Bach’s harmony to its origin and to its most intimate voice essence.