Goldberg Variations For Recorder Quintet

Seldom Sene

Bach’s set of 30 variations on an original theme were first published in 1742 and composed (so the legend has it) for Johann Gottlieb Goldberg (1727–56), harpsichordist to the Russian ambassador to the court of Saxony Count Keyserlingk. Since that time they have attracted countless arrangements for and by musicians, sometimes in order to lend further color or tease out the complex counterpoint of the variations, but more often for the privilege and the pleasure of playing this music for themselves, on instruments and in combinations that the composer could never have envisaged: string trio; saxophone quartet, even full chamber orchestra. The fine young recorder quintet Seldom Sene now makes its own contribution to this rich history of Goldberg interpretation with a version created by one of their number, Maria Martinez Ayerza. Their debut album was Taracea (‘A Mosaic of Ingenious Music Spanning Five Centuries’), praised by Gramophone: ‘The range of styles in this enterprising recital is only the most striking of several distinctive features. The programme is carefully chosen, the passage between styles cleverly judged on the whole, the contemporary works included here being especially well integrated.’

Price: $13.98