P&C Music has a huge stock of new and pre-owned classical CDs and vinyl records – way too many to list – so we recommend you visit to browse through them. Enquiries welcome – peter@pandcmusic.co.uk
Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685 in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany. A prolific German composer and organist, his sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra and solo instruments drew together the strands of the baroque genre and brought it to its ultimate maturity. Although he introduced no new forms, he enriched the prevailing German style with a robust contrapuntal technique, a control of harmonic and motivic organisation from the smallest to the largest scales, and the adaptation of rhythms and textures from abroad, particularly Italy and France. Revered for their intellectual depth, technical command and artistic beauty, his works include the six Brandenburg Concertos, works for keyboard including The Goldberg Variations, The English Suites, The French Suites, six Partitas, The 48 Preludes and Fugues and The Italian Concerto, the Mass in B Minor, the St. Matthew Passion, The Musical Offering, The Art of Fugue and a large number of cantatas, of which about 220 survive. There are also keyboard and violin concertos and solo suites for cello and violin, plus a large body of work for the organ. Many people consider him to be the greatest Baroque composer, and one of the greatest composers of all time. From 1723 until his death on July 28, 1750 he was Thomascantor at Leipzig.
The Goldberg Variations (Goldberg-Variationen) BWV 988, is a musical composition consisting of an aria* and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, it is named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may also have been the first performer of the work.
*The Italian term aria first appeared in relation to music in the 14th century when it simply signified a manner or style of singing or playing. By the end of the 16th century, the term ‘aria’ refers to an instrumental form, as in this set of variations.
This historic Mono recording was made in 1955 by Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. He recorded it again in 1981, but this earlier version is regarded as superior.
