Beautifully transcribed by Bernard Labadie for strings and continuo, The Goldberg Variations is a monumental work full of color, intimacy, and virtuosity—bounteous music for the virtuosic musicians of Les Violons du Roy.
The work itself consists of 30 variations, starting with a single ‘Aria’. After transforming the music over the course of an hour, using different time signatures, textures, and harmonies, the stunning first aria returns, with an enhanced feeling from the first hearing.
Once the listener has heard this melody transformed in almost infinite ways, the simplicity of the original melody is nothing short of stunning.