When you start listening to this recording, make sure that ambient noises are at a minimum. The first few notes on this sublime reinterpretation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations will sweep you away into a world of tonal delight. Joe Chindamo and Zoë Black are making a habit of taking music that is old but still loved and creating new musical ideas from it. They interweave their musical presence with that of the original composer, in this case Bach, and have created, in a way not dissimilar to Max Richter’s Four Seasons, a whole new work that pays homage to the master while proving their own worth as musicians with each and every note.

According to folklore, Bach wrote the Goldberg Variations for Count Keyserling who suffered from insomnia. The Count asked Bach to compose something that would lift his spirits on sleepless nights and that could be performed by his in-house harpsichordist, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg – hence the name Goldberg Variations. Although today historians are not convinced of this story, it’s nonetheless a perfect way to introduce a work that would indeed be just the thing if you suffered insomnia. The gentle opening aria and slow unfolding of each of the 30 variations would be truly delightful drifting on the air at 3am.

Chindamo is the compositional force behind the reimagining of these classic variations, with Black’s soulful violin a very clever antithetical timbre to the sometimes dry piano textures from the original score. Bach was a big fan of borrowing from other composers and a firm believer in music evolving over time. This is a sentiment that many classical musicians share with him and Chindamo. Listening to these Variations you can hear a fresh perspective on Bach that is inspiring both as a listener and a musician. I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Kate Rockstrom