Probably no great composer has been ‘arranged’ more often than Bach. Be it the C major Prelude from Book 1 of the Well Tempered Clavier which has another life as Gounod’s Ave Maria, or the jazz piano trio arrangements of Jacques Loussier of his keyboard concertos, his music shines through, and endures, reaching wider audiences. The Sitkovetsky arrangement of the Goldberg Variations (originally for harpsichord) ranks as one of the finest arrangements. It is the most recent in a long and honourable tradition that has seen Mozart arrange Bach’s fugues for string trio and quartet, and, indeed the great Johann Sebastian arrange Vivaldi’s concertos for keyboard.
Sitkovetsky’s arrangement treats all three instruments as different registers of a single instrument – all three are equal partners. Bach dedicated the ‘Aria’ ‘ to music lovers for the benefit of their souls’. This arrangement was certainly made in the spirit of Bach’s dedication.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Aria
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 1
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 2
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 3 (CaNone all ‘unisoNo)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 4
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 5
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 6 (CaNone alla seconda)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 7 (Tempo di giga)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 8
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 9 (CaNone alla terza)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 10 (Fughetta)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 11
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 12 (CaNone alla quarta)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 13
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 14
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 15 (CaNone alla quinta, andante)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 16, Ouverture
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 17
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 18 (CaNone alla sexta)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 19
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 20
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 21 (CaNone alla settima)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 22
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 23
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 24 (CaNone all’ottava)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 25
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 26
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 27 (CaNone alla Nona)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 28
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 29
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Variation 30 (Quodlibet)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, arrangement for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky (in memoriam Glenn Gould): Aria da capo
