We've heard different performers play different parts of the Goldbergs. Now, we're putting them together. This is the complete 30 Bach version of the Goldberg, through 15 separate performances. It's Bach's Goldberg Variations, with some twists

Aria: "He was superman"

May 21st, 2021 24m 46s

At last, we bring it all together with the return of the aria. It's the same place we began, and yet it feels different, colored by the journey. A journey through many different worlds, different places, different people's lives. Lowry Yankwich

Lennart Felix: "When I come back here, I always feel at home"

May 14th, 2021 19m 21s

Variation 30. In the last variation of the Goldbergs, Bach returns home, to a tradition of his family: creating mashups. Interview with and performance by German pianist Lennart Felix, with additional commentary by Kristian Nyquist, Angela Hew

Hie-Yon Choi: "So much fun"

Apr 30th, 2021 24m 29s

Variations 26, 27, 28, and 29. These variations vibrate with joy, energy, excitement. We explore the times when Bach could let loose and lose himself in play within his music.‍ First interview conducted on November 10, 2017, over Skype. Second

Jeremy Denk: "The farthest possible place"

Apr 23rd, 2021 29m 44s

If the Goldbergs are a celebration of life, variation 25 is a reckoning with mortality, revealing pain but also providing comfort. In this episode, we hear from many different people, including pianist Jeremy Denk, Washington Post critic Philip

Kevin Sun: "We need joy"

Apr 16th, 2021 25m 56s

Variations 22, 23, 24. Interview with Kevin Sun, medical student and concert pianist. We discuss sources of joy in Bach’s life, and his ability to conjure joy, warmth, and humor in his music as an antidote to the tragedy that follows. Musical r

Rachel Breen: "My musical education was painful"

Apr 9th, 2021 25m 26s

Variations 19, 20, and 21. Pianist Rachel Breen didn't have an ordinary classical music education; guided by her father, not himself a musician, Breen began with a diet exclusively of Bach. This episode delves into what it's like to learn Bach'

"Bach would have been a good programmer, a good engineer"

Apr 2nd, 2021 29m 19s

Variations 16, 17, 18. Bach was a consummate craftsmen -- he knew not just how to write music, but how to build it. In this Interview, we speak with pianist Jeffrey LaDeur and his student, Ken Kocienda. Kocienda was lead software engineer behin

Jeff Scott: "This is just an absolute party"

Mar 26th, 2021 21m 35s

Who said Bach's music was the last word? Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones

Angela Hewitt: "Lifted up into a different world"

Mar 19th, 2021 32m 1s

Variations 13, 14, and 15. Bach's faith was central to his music-making. This episode explores the spirituality of Bach's music with Angela Hewitt, internationally-renowned interpreter of Bach, who has performed all of Bach’s keyboard works acr

Ben Laude: "I got obsessed with how he was playing it"

Mar 12th, 2021 28m 54s

Variations 10, 11, 12. It's impossible to tell the story of the Goldberg Variations without mentioning Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. Gould's two recordings of the variations, one in 1955, the other in 1981, forever changed the place of the Gold

Kristian Nyquist: The Real Sound of the Goldbergs

Mar 5th, 2021 23m 44s

While the Goldbergs are most often heard today on the piano, the piece was written for the double-manual harpsichord. There are advantages to playing the piece on harpsichord, and tricks a harpsichordist can pull to create unusual effects. The

Dan Tepfer: "Prepare to be unprepared"

Feb 26th, 2021 32m 3s

Variations 7, 8, and 9. Bach was a legendary improviser who could blow the socks off most jazz musicians today. This episode features a discussion with Dan Tepfer, a classically-trained jazz pianist and Bach lover who free improvises over the s

Simone Dinnerstein: "It was like an epiphany"

Feb 19th, 2021 21m 59s

Variations 4, 5, and 6. What was Bach's musical development like? How did he grow as a young musician, and how has his music helped other artists grow? For pianist Simone Dinnerstein, the Goldbergs are a constant source of artistic growth, whet

Christopher Hinterhuber: "Music which was made for dancing"

Feb 12th, 2021 25m 15s

Variations 1, 2, 3. Our first stop is in Vienna, Austria with Professor Christopher Hinterhuber, a celebrated pianist for whom the Goldberg Variations has been a consistent source of inspiration. Hinterhuber connects variations 1, 2, and 3 to m

"It's perhaps the music that travels best"

Feb 12th, 2021 16m 46s

We begin where the piece begins: the "aria" on which the rest of the piece is based. This episode introduces the project, including why I embarked on this project, and how the piece inspires people today. Conversation with architect and nanosci

Trailer

Teaser

Jan 21st, 2021 4m 44s

What do a nanoscientist, an architect, a Brazilian guitarist, and Silence of the Lambs all have in common? One inspiring piece of music: J.S. Bach's "Goldberg Variations". Podcast coming soon!