The Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach—one of my absolute favorite pieces, one that would for sure be on my top 10 list of classical music. While the title of the piece is actually “Aria with 30 Variations,” it is not variations on the aria per se, but rather the harmonic framework of it. The piece is a perfect example of the endless possibilities of variation upon mostly diatonic harmony. There’s a story that a Baroque composer named Stölzel wrote a canon to disprove the assertion of an opponent that the possibilities of canon were exhausted. Later on, Marpurg, a student of Bach, produced 477 different variants of the Stölzel canon. In a way, Bach’s Goldberg Variations, while not as numerous as Stölzel’s canon, is a testament to the extreme variety possible even in diatonic harmony.
As a composer, the piece is incredibly interesting and a delight to learn from. The piece contains an example of a canon at every interval of imitation from the unison to the ninth, as well as a brief fughetta. The piece, as a whole, is, for whatever of your style preference in music, a remarkable lesson in variety.
One the best recordings of this masterpiece of classical music is Glenn Gould’s 1981 recording. In fact, I’m listening to this very recording as I speak (er…write). Gould is known for his unique interpretations of Bach and in my opinion, no other performer brings the music of Bach to life as well as Glenn Gould. Gould’s 1955 recording of the work is also quite remarkable but for some reason doesn’t possess the unity of thought that the later recording does. However, either one is a must-have for any collection of Bach’s music.