Goldberg Variations (J.S. Bach) [play hifi lofi] [license] [buy]

The guitarist Andreas Almqvist was born in the north of Sweden 1948 his father was a merchant and his mother a Jewess, an emigre as a result of the second world war.

Andreas started playing popular music in local bands as a teenager but soon he changed to classical music. His studies of classical music has been carried out in various music schools and music high schools in Sweden and he also spent 3 years in Madrid (Spain) studing music and also studies in Barcelona. His music activities include teaching, concerts and he has also made a cd recording of modern "free form Avant Garde" music.

The Goldberg Variations (performed by Andreas Almqvist six stringed guitar)

In 1742 Balthasar Schmid in Nürnberg published a piece of music with the title "Keyboard-practice consisting of an Aria with different variations for the harpsichord with two manuals. Prepared for the enjoyment of music-lovers by Johann Sebastian Bach, Polish royal and Saxon electoral court-composer, director and choir-master in Leipzig." The Aria is also found as a saraband in the Notenbüchlein printed in the year 1725. Later on and in these days it is known as the Aria that marks the beginning and also the end of the Goldberg Variations.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was not only a composer and a performer; he was also a teacher of music. He named his work "a keyboard practice" thus stressing the pedagogical dimension of the work. It is easy for us to imagine Bach at the harpsichord playing the aria and demonstrating what can be done with musical matter as he does with the 30 variations. He also mentioned what sort of instrument he recommended for the study and performance of the work - a two-manual harpsichord with a large number of tonal possibilities, a fertile place for the exercise of Bach's tremendous musical imagination.

We can join this group of admirers by playing his music and learn about Bach's musical cosmos, its structure and content. The knowledge, interests, and ability of the performer also form this process.

Göran Sörbom, professor emeritus in Aesthetics at Uppsala University