Simply Clavier-Übung bestehend in einer Aria mit verschiedenen Veraenderungen, Johann Sebastian Bach titled his Goldberg Variations in 1742 – and composed a fascinating compendium of variations, canons and fugues. In 1993, the Swiss choreographer Heinz Spoerli took up the challenge of meeting Bach’s opus summum of piano literature with dance – and created one of his signature works: a dance drama about man, his joys and fears, loneliness and lusts, bonds and ruptures, youth and old age, which builds up
from making music with the body. Now, 30 years after its creation, it’s been brought to the stage of the Wiener Staatsoper in a new set and costume design, especially for the Wiener Staatsballett – “a wonderful addition to the repertoire” (Tanz). “The courage to choreograph Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations for piano was rewarded. Spoerli has succeeded in creating a highly attractive and musical exploration of the variations, which shows pure dance in many colorful facets. […] The spectrum ranges from large group scenes to solos and pas de deux. All highlights.” (Kurier)
Jirí Kylián is a living legend. He is the creator of more than a hundred works, several of which form part of the repertories of some of the greatest dance centres in the world. Due to the choreographer’s extreme reluctance to engage in a documentary, this film is exceptional. For the first time one can have a real close look at Kylián’s life, his way of thinking and at his most significant creations. The fi lm was shot in Den Haag, Prague, Monte-Carlo and Paris.
“Rejoice, exult” – John Neumeier turns Bach’s Christmas Oratorio into an experience that confronts us all with the most basic questions of trust, hope, faith, doubt and self-sacrifice: “My choreography is not a religious undertaking. We perform to Bach’s music, for a few hours unifying individuals of many different cultural and religious backgrounds. For me, the basic human values expressed through the choreography are always the most important thing. Therefore, in my ballet, Mary is known simply as ‘the Mother’ and Joseph as ‘her Husband’.” “Once again it is impossible not to be impressed by the flawless technique of the ensemble … When at the end Lloyd Riggins tap-dances his way across the stage like Fred Astaire, the Christmas Oratorio is complete” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).
Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has made a profound impact with his remarkable combination of highest level musicianship and visionary programmes. His recordings for Deutsche Grammophon have captured the public and critical imagination. In October 2023, Ólafsson releases his anticipated new album on Deutsche Grammophon of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Ólafsson has dedicated his entire 2023-24 season to a Goldberg Variations world tour, performing the work across six continents throughout the year. He brings Bach’s masterpiece to major concert halls of the world and in this recording from the Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik, Iceland, he is performing Goldberg Variations “at home”.
Captivating the audience from the very first moment, Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov brings deep insight into the music-making of J.S. Bach at the Philharmonie in Berlin. Traversing the entirety of the keyboard with just his left hand, he performs a stunning rendition of Bach’s Chaconne in D Minor, before moving seamlessly into the monumental Art of Fugue. Trifonov navigates the 14 fugues and four canons with technical prowess, intimate understanding, careful detail, and exquisite touch and offers a self-composed conclusion of the final contrapunctus worthy of Bach’s genius, a performance of Dame Myra Hess’s moving transcription of “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” and three encores by three of Bach’s sons, performed between bursts of thunderous applause. PROGRAM Bach: Chaconne in D Minor, Art of Fugue and encores
“In an all-Brahms programme, Christian Tetzlaff brought momentum and shape to the Violin Concerto, and Tilson Thomas made every note glow” (The Guardian) There is a sense that every concert the London Symphony Orchestra gets to give with its conductor laureate, Michael Tilson Thomas, is now a gift – this evening of Brahms came a little over a year after the announcement that he was being treated for an aggressive form of brain cancer. Yet if Tilson Thomas’s own dynamic energy now needs to be husbanded to some extent, this did not translate into any loss of momentum or intensity in the orchestra’s performance: small gestures – a lean towards the cellos here, a shimmy of the fingers to fade out the brass there – were enough to shape the music into the kind of long, elastic lines that make Brahms’s notes glow. PROGRAM Brahms: Violin Concerto, Serenade No. 1
Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the few baroque composers whose works Herbert von Karajan recorded, with the conductor specializing primarily in Classical and Romantic repertoire. This rare footage of the 1984 New Year’s concert features the Berliner Philharmoniker and Karajan in a two-part program. First they perform Bach’s Violin Concerto in E Major with the brilliant Anne-Sophie Mutter as soloist. Then they present Bach’s Magnificat in D Major for soloists, choir, and orchestra, a true audience favorite.
