Luogo e data di registrazione		Kirche Haarlem (Holland) - aprile 1976
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Recording Supervision		Dr. Th. Gallia | P. Dery
	Engineer		Sonart
	Prima Edizione LP		Harmonia Mundi (EMI Electrola) | 1C 065-99 710 | 1 LP - durata 47' 19" | (p) 1978
	Edizione CD		Deutsche Harmonia Mundi | LC 0761 | GD 77149 | 1 CD - durata 47' 19" | (c) 1990 | ADD
	Cover Art		Clavichordspielerin, Unbek, süddeutscher Meister 18. Jhd. Mit freundlicher Gebehmigung von: Archir für Kunst und Geschichte.
	Note		-

Not too much credence should be attached to the story initially reported in Johann Nikolaus Forkel's 1802 biography of Bach, that the Goldberg Variations were written to the commission of Count Keyserlingk. In all probability Bach presented his noble sponsor with a copy of the newly printed work on his visit to Dresden in November 1741, and it is certain that Johann Gottlieb Goldberg (1727-56), the highly gifted pupil of J. S. and W. F. Bach, and Keyserlingk's harpsichordist, often played the work to his master - probably in reality to while away the latter's sleepless nights. But there is no trace of a formal dedication to the Count on the title page of the 1741 printed edition, as the nieties of 18th century manners would certainly have demanded. Furthermore, it is more than doubtful wheter Bach could have had in mind the capacities of the then only 13 year old Goldberg when he began to compose the work, in 1740 at the latest. It is much more likely that this set of variations, like the three preceding parts of the "Clavier-Übunh", were written at Bach's own initiative. The monumental series of "clavier exercises", representing the most important types of keyboard music in exemplary compositions, was destined to receive a cyclically closed major work as its crown and conclusion. Yhis closing part of the Clavierübung simultaneously opens the series of monothematic contrapuntal instrumental works which occupied the last decade of Bach's life. How much this set of variations may be regarded as a milestone is particularly evident from Bach's manuscript copy which became known to us only in 1975, containing, in addition to important corrections and amendments, a manuscript appendix with "14 canons on the first 8 ground notes of the Aria" (BWV 1087), the new conceptual basis of which was to find fuller expression in the later works (e. g. the Musical Offering). The unusual proportions of the set of variations are already apparent in the lenght of the theme, which Bach developed from a traditional bass model into a 32-bar ground bass for the aria and its variations. The number of bars and the total number of sections (Aria, 30 variations, Aria da capo) correspond exactly: a perfect proportion. The overall plan and structure of the work mirrors the composer's intended balance of "inventio" and "ratio". The variety of musical forms, types of rhythmic movement, expressive moods and technical refinements is divided into two large sections each containing 15 variations (the second begins with an Overture) and simultaneously finds its backbone in the form of a compelling contrapuntal climax: each third section is a canon, with the imitative intervals climbing steadily from unison to ninth, and at the end stands a Quodlibet as a humorous final section, combining the theme of the work with two folktunes ("Kraut und Rüben haben mich vertrieben". "Ich bin so lang nicht bei dir g'west"). Christoph Wolff