Flawless and joyous: Bach as you’ve never heard him.
Although Bach’s Goldberg Variations were written in 1741 for a harpsichord and published to refresh the spirits of music lovers, it is easy to forget how private a piece it was originally meant to be, which made it fair to wonder how it would fare in the hands of a full ensemble on Thursday night. Sinfonia Smith Square under the baton of Robin O’Neill, whose own orchestration of the work was being performed, answered that question by offering a performance so warm and generous that it was a pleasure from beginning to end.
O’Neill began the arrangement during the 2020 lockdown when the comfort of Bach’s music felt especially welcome, pairing a string orchestra with flute, oboe, cor anglais and two bassoons. Full orchestra variations give way throughout to ones for small groups of soloists, beginning with a wind trio in Variation 2 and a string trio in Variation 3, so that the score keeps changing its mind about how large it wants to be and the evening.
Bach built all thirty variations on a 32-bar bass line before grouping them into sets of three that each end with a canon, a structure that becomes easier to follow when it is passed between different instruments. The French Overture of Variation 16 opens the second half, and the skittish Variation 20 is followed so promptly by the hush of Variation 21 that the contrast lands with real force. At the emotional centre sits the slow G minor Adagio of Variation 25, whose chromatic harmony belongs to the world of the St Matthew Passion and whose woodwind colours gave it a sorrowful, searching quality.
The final stretch of the work is its most entertaining, with Variation 28 fluttering in the manner of Respighi’s neo-baroque pieces before Variation 29, which takes its inspiration from the strumming of a guitar. The closing Quodlibet weaves together two folk songs, one of them about cabbage and turnips, and when the opening Aria returned afterwards it felt like coming home to a room that had been quietly rearranged.
The playing was flawless and the evening beautiful, helped by the loveliness of Smith Square Hall, whose Baroque lines make it a fitting home for a festival that this year takes Refractions as its theme.
Goldberg Reimagined was at Smith Square Hall, London, as part of the London Festival of Baroque Music. Tickets here.