Booklet

Bach: The Goldberg Variations BWV 988
arranged by Bernard Labadie

Ensemble PHOENIX on period instruments
Myrna Herzog musical director
Noam Schuss - baroque violin
Tali Goldberg - baroque violin
Amos Boasson - baroque viola
Marina Minkin – harpsichord
Myrna Herzog - viola da gamba

The Goldberg variations are one of Bach’s most important works. Bernard Labadie’s ground-breaking arrangement of it, performed here by Ensemble PHOENIX on period instruments, reveals the original harpsichord setting to be a reduction of much larger music, comprising a diversity of genres. Made in the Baroque tradition of suiting the music to the medium, Labadie's version gives a whole new dimension to the work.
Ensemble PHOENIX's small chamber setting led it to take a few liberties regarding Labadie's arrangement. Those entailed including original harpsichord solos in the opening aria and variation 7, and using the harpsichord as an independent partner in variations 14 and 29.
Recorded live on 08.10.21 at the Eden Tamir Center, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem as part of its concerts series produced in partnership with and broadcasted by Kan Kol HaMusica radio station.
Recording engineer: Tal Wenig (for the Israeli radio station Kan Kol HaMusica)
Editing: Myrna Herzog
Mastering: David Feldman
Cover picture: Baroque Gold Sun Kaleidoscope by Piotr Siedlecki (public domain)
Graphic Design: Myrna Herzog
Our hearty thanks to Bernard Labadie and to Le violons du Roy, for sharing and allowing us to perform this wonderful arrangement
to Dror Semmel & the Eden-Tamir Music Center, to Omer Frenkel, the Israel Broadcast Authority and Kan Kol HaMusica radio station for enabling this concert to happen and allowing us to use the recording.

"An outstanding performance... a rich, meaningful musical experience... The PHOENIX players’ intelligent, virtuosic, profoundly inquiring, sensitive and nuanced performance confirms that the greatness of the Goldbergs goes far beyond the keyboard, opening the floodgates for new interpretative possibilities of this ingenious work, all wrought of the same harpsichord score.... Once again, Myrna Herzog has challenged audiences to free themselves of pre-conceptions, to listen with “new ears”." Pamela Hickman

"Excellent performance... significant artistic achievement... one could appreciate Bach’s contrapuntal ingenuity in all its glory". Ury Eppstein, The Jerusalem Post

“Labadie intends his arrangement to demonstrate the flexibility of great music and for us to enjoy this masterpiece in a new light. He is triumphantly successful.” Peter Grahame Woolf, Classical Music on the Web

Track list:
01. Aria
02. Variatio 1
03. Variatio 2
04. Variatio 3 Canone all'Unisono
05. Variatio 4
06. Variatio 5
07. Variatio 6 Canone alla Seconda
08. Variatio 7 al tempo di Giga
09. Variatio 8
10. Variatio 9 Canone alla Terza 
11. Variatio 10 Fugetta
12. Variatio 11
13. Variatio 12 Canone alla Quarta
14. Variatio 13
15. Variatio 14
16. Variatio 15 Canone alla Quinta - andante
17. Variatio 16 Ouverture
18. Variatio 17
19. Variatio 18 Canone alla Sexta
20. Variatio 19
21. Variatio 20
22. Variatio 21 Canone alla Settima
23. Variatio 22 alla breve
24. Variatio 23
25. Variatio 24 Canone all'Ottava
26. Variatio 25 Adagio
27. Variatio 26
28. Variatio 27 Canone alla Nona
29. Variatio 28
30. Variatio 29
31. Variatio 30 Quodlibet
32. Aria da Capo

Reviews

"An outstanding performance...  a rich, meaningful musical experience... The PHOENIX players’ intelligent, virtuosic, profoundly inquiring, sensitive and nuanced performance confirms that the greatness of the Goldbergs goes far beyond the keyboard, opening the floodgates for new interpretative possibilities of this ingenious work, all wrought of the same harpsichord score.... Once again, Myrna Herzog has challenged audiences to free themselves of pre-conceptions, to listen with “new ears”." Pamela Hickman  (Read the full review here.)

"Excellent performance... significant artistic achievement... one could appreciate Bach’s contrapuntal ingenuity in all its glory". Ury Eppstein, The Jerusalem Post