The Goldberg Variations, published by Bach in 1741, is beloved by musicians. Those who don’t play a keyboard instrument have been quick to arrange it for their own specialties. We’ll now look at very large ensembles and a few surprises.

Johann Sebastian Bach playing the organ, c. 1881

Dmitry Sitkovetsky, who arranged the Goldberg for string trio, went on to arrange the work for string orchestra. This fuller sound appealed to people who thought of Baroque music as thin and lacking.

J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 (arr. D. Sitkovetsky for string orchestra) – Variatio 1. a 1 Clav. (Kioi Sinfonietta Tokyo; Dmitry Sitkovetsky, cond.)

Józef Koffler arranged the work for small (or chamber) orchestra in 1938 when the Goldberg Variations were not as familiar as it is today. Historically, Wanda Landowska had made her recording on her very unusual steel-framed harpsichord in 1933.

J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 – Variatio 1. a 1 Clav. (Wanda Landowska, harpsichord)

Claudio Arrau made his piano recording in 1942.

J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 – Variatio 1. a 1 Clav. (Claudio Arrau, piano)

It wasn’t until Canadian pianist Glenn Gould took up the work for his 1955 recording that the world seemed to discover the Goldberg Variations, which one writer describes as ‘Bach’s encyclopaedic marvel of digital gymnastics and musical invention’. In 1955, Gould was brave, brash, and fast in his delivery.

J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 – Variatio 1. a 1 Clav. (Glenn Gould, piano)

It was only later that Gould slowed down his approach, and in 1981 issued his second Goldberg, which is controlled by a very different sensibility.

J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 – Variatio 1. a 1 Clav. (Glenn Gould, piano)

To return to Józef Koffler in 1938, the chamber orchestra that Koffler used (flute, oboe, cor anglaise, bassoon, and strings) was the first opportunity to open up the keyboard original. Koffler was on the cutting edge of music composition in the early 20th century. He was friends with Alban Berg in Vienna, and had a correspondence with Arnold Schoenberg. In 1924, the Conservatory of the Polish Music Society in Lwów hired Koffler to teach composition and music theory, and in 1928 he was appointed professor of harmony and atonal composition, the only position of its kind in the country. An early serialist in the mode of the Second Viennese School, he was forced to give this all up when, in 1940, he was accused of ‘formalism’ by the Union of Soviet Composers. ‘Formalism’ meant that his music was too indebted to western avant-garde and was insufficiently populist. During WWII, the Kofflers evaded the German troops for some time until 1944 when the family was swept up in a Gestapo raid and taken away.

To transform the original work for a 2-manual harpsichord to a single-keyboard piano involved ‘decisions, revisions, fingering adjustments and hidden compromises’, as one writer put it. In the orchestra, however, it’s the ideas of colour and timbre that come to the fore. Koffler’s arrangement is very much of his time, ‘Thematic material is segmented and tossed from instrument to instrument, creating interactions, imitative patterns and relationships that are both novel and unpredictable. The string writing is likewise of his time. Soloists emerge from the string ensemble to engage with solo winds, and the full string complement is used to reinforce dramatic moments. Idiomatic keyboard figures are reset to be appropriate to their new instrumentation.

For a modern performer, a balance has to be struck between what we know of Bach’s time and what Loffler knew of it. A modern musician can’t play it in Koffler’s 1930s style, but still has to acknowledge what Koffler’s relationship to Bach was.

J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 (arr. J. Koffler for orchestra) – Variation 1 (members of the Glenn Gould School; Royal Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble; Trevor Pinnock, cond.)

There are many other arrangements, such as for cello and piano, cello and organ, harpsichord and piano, violin with electronics and orchestra, and even for jazz ensemble. Here’s Variation 18, a canon at the 6th arranged for jazz ensemble. It starts off as one might expect and then the keyboards start wandering in all kinds of ways, including in style.

J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 18, Canon at the 6th (arr. U. Caine for jazz ensemble) (Uri Caine, keyboards; Uri Caine Ensemble)

We can also look at the larger influence of the work. American composer Neil Gladd (b. 1955) plays the mandolin and used Bach as the basis for his Red Bach Book: Three Rags after Bach. The second rag is based on the Goldberg theme, but in a way that may seem very unfamiliar.

Neil Gladd: The Red Bach Book: Three Rags after Bach – No. 2. The Goldberg Rag (Ugo Orlandi, mandolin; Daniele Bosio, bas tuba; Claudio Mandonico, piano)

What we haven’t seen yet are vocal reflections on the keyboard work (aside from the very first one for vocal ensemble). Lorna Crozier’s poem The Goldberg Variations first appeared in the journal Canadian Literature for Spring 1987. Through the poem she muses on Glenn Gould’s 1981 recording of The Goldberg Variations, deciding in the end that it isn’t Bach that he’s playing but rather ‘music before it became the least bit human’. She finds his playing and the work to be a distancing, remote work, and then equates it to her personal relationship. Mauricio Diaz set it as a song.

Mauricio Diaz: The Goldberg Variations (Las Variaciones Goldberg) (arr. L. Lenero Elu) (Carmen Lenero, vocals; Jose Angel Ramos, saxophone; Gabriel Solares, trumpet and flugelhorn; Carlos Galvez, guitar; Yuri Inti Bullon, violin; Illya Ivanov, violin; Andrei Katsarava, viola; Maurillo Castillo, cello; Juan Cristobal Perez, electric bass and double bass; Luis F. Gordillo, accordion and piano; Mario Garcia, drums; Juan Gedovius, percussion; Luis Lenero Elu, electronics)

Mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins sang Patrick Hamilton’s setting of Luke Juby’s lyrics in Remember. There’s Bach in the bass line, but modern music over the top. The beginning and ending, using the Aria theme, brings us back to Bach.

Patrick Hamilton: Remember (after Bach’s Goldberg Variations) (Katherine Jenkins, mezzo-soprano; Gisela Cammaert, Anna Buevich, Paul Klinck, and Agne Cinanskaite, violin; Ann-Sofie Vandeginste, viola; Bart Verhaeghe, cello; Patrick Hamilton, cond.)

The advocacy group Red Hot has been behind decades of inspired music making, from Red Hot + Blue (1990), which gave contemporary performances of the songs of Cole Porter, or Red Hot + Rio (1996), which used the music of bossa nova inventor Antonio Carlos Jobim as its driving force. The 2014 album, Red Hot + Bach, reinvented Bach for the 21st century. The app, Red Hot + Bach, for the iPad provides an interactive access to the music. American singer-songwriter Gabiel Kahane contributed Dear Goldberg, basing his song on Forkel’s story of the Count and his insomnia, solved only by Goldberg and his variations.

Bach from the Red Hot + Bach cover

Considering that only 90 years ago, the Goldberg Variations were relatively unknown and now can be part of the pop culture, Bach’s influence still carries through the 21st century. Some of the arrangements worked well, and some didn’t; some made us hear the first variation in different ways. We discover our feeling for tempo when we find that some are just too fast and others are too slow, but inevitably, we find the one that feels just right.

Bach wasn’t fond of variation sets, finding the repeating harmonic structure just a bit boring to deal with, but for his student, he created a work that speaks to the ages.

For more of the best in classical music, sign up for our E-Newsletter