13 Ways of Looking at the Goldberg: New Variations on the Goldberg Theme for Solo Piano.13 Ways of Looking at the Goldberg: New Variations on the Goldberg Theme for Solo Piano, by C. Curtis-Smith, Jennifer Higdon Jennifer Higdon (born December 31, 1962) is an American composer of classical music and flutist. Higdon was born in Brooklyn, but spent her first 10 years in Atlanta before moving to Tennessee. , et. al., C.F. Peters Corp./Edition Peters (www.edition-peters.com), 2007, 66 pp This intriguing collection, was commissioned by the Irving S Irving, city (1990 pop. 155,037), Dallas co., N Tex., a suburb of Dallas; inc. as a city 1952. Building supplies, chemicals, electronic equipment, and airplane parts are manufactured in Irving. . Gilmore Keyboard Festival for pianist Gilbert Kalish, who gave its first performance at the Festival in 2004. The 12 composers are an eclectic bunch--Curtis-Smith, Del Tredici, Bolcom and Foss being the most renowned--who each composed a piece that in some way relates to Bach's Goldberg Aria aria (är`ēə), elaborate and often lengthy solo song with instrumental accompaniment. In the 16th cent. it was a melody improvised over a strophic bass line, and a distinction was made between instrumental, vocal, and dance arias. . To provide unity like in the Goldberg Variations The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, are a set of 30 variations for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach. First published in 1741 as the fourth in a series Bach called Clavier-Übung, "keyboard practice", the work is considered to be one of the most important examples of , "Bach's Aria" has been placed at the beginning and end, while "Variation 13" has been included between the two sets of six variations. The order reflects Kalish's personal choice and may be altered and need not be performed in entirety, which takes about 50 minutes. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Of the 12 pieces, it is surprising that there exists only one--a left-hand study by William Bolcom William Elden Bolcom (born May 26, 1938) is an American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, three Grammy Awards, and the Detroit Music Award. Bolcom is a professor of music composition at the University of Michigan. , "Yet Another Goldberg Variation"--that consists of 32 measures with 16 measures in each half, with repeats and a tonal center of G. Some highlights include C. Curtis-Smith's mysterious "Rube Goldberg Variation," Mischa Zupko's imaginative and well-pedaled "Ghost Variation," David Del Tredici's beautiful and romantic Satie-like "My Goldberg" (Gymnopedie #1), Fred Lerdahl's exciting pointilistic and toccata-like "Chasing Goldberg," Lukas Foss's well-crafted and quartal-style "Goldmore Variation: or Ralf Gothoni's improvisatory im·prov·i·sa·to·ry also im·prov·i·sa·to·ri·al adj. 1. Made up without preparation; improvised. 2. Of or relating to improvisation: improvisatory skill. "Variation of Variation with Variation." Although this unique project has yielded an admirable collection, some of the variations--although interesting pieces in their own right--digress substantially from Bach's original Aria and bear almost no resemblance to it at all. In Bach's Goldberg Variations, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; however, in the present collection the parts contrast greatly not only in compositional technique (which is to be expected), but in musical quality. My biggest criticism, however, has to do with the publisher's editing. The A in the bass in measure 23 in "Bach's Aria" is printed incorrectly as F-sharp both times, while the A in the bass in measure 3 of "Variation 13" is printed incorrectly as B. Despite these shortcomings A shortcoming is a character flaw. Shortcomings may also be:
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