Classical music lovers are in for a rare treat as the Pacific Baroque Orchestra (PBO), the acclaimed “house band” of Early Music Vancouver, presents a bold orchestral adaptation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations on Tuesday, Dec. 2 at 2:30 p.m. as part of the ArtSpring Presents series.
While Baroque fans may have experienced this piece in its traditional form as a solo keyboard piece — such as Sarah Hagen’s moving performance during the 2024/2025 ArtSpring Presents season – PBO’s version, directed by the internationally renowned keyboardist Alexander Weimann, approaches the composition from an entirely new direction.
Weimann has meticulously transformed the solo work into a radiant ensemble experience, breathing fresh colour into Bach’s score with a chamber arrangement that includes the violin, viola, oboe, bassoon, cello, flute and harpsichord. Weimann notes that this process was “supremely rewarding,” allowing him to “place myself in Bach’s mind, imagining how he himself might have orchestrated the work for strings, winds and harpsichord.”
This alone sets PBO’s reimagining of Bach’s masterpiece apart. However, Weimann also went one step further by weaving into the composition Trio Sonata No. 4 in C Major by Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, the 18th-century harpsichord prodigy and student of Bach’s for whom the Goldberg Variations are named. The inclusion of this piece, which was long misattributed to Bach himself, imbues PBO’s Goldberg Variations with poignant historical context.
Goldberg Variations is a storied composition with a shrouded history. Though Bach composed over 1,000 musical pieces, Goldberg Variations is one of only about 17 that were published during his lifetime. According to Bach’s first biographer, Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Bach wrote the Variations for a then 14-year-old Goldberg to play to soothe Count Keyserling, his insomniac employer, to sleep. According to the Berliner Philharmoniker, nobody knows where Forkel got this information, and Bach historian Christoph Wolff argues that the story is untrue. Still, it is widely believed that Goldberg was the first to perform the composition.
Early Music Vancouver embraces a “historically informed performance” approach to early music, incorporating styles, conventions and period instruments from each piece’s historical context. PBO consistently performs innovative and exciting renditions of “early music for modern ears” under Weimann, who has been praised for his versatility, “often playing harpsichord with his left hand while conducting with his right.” With such a powerhouse ensemble, next week’s performance promises to invigorate seasoned listeners and newcomers alike with a fresh perspective on this iconic work.
Tickets are available through the ArtSpring website or the box office.