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30 Bach: The Goldberg Variations Podcast

May 21, 2021

We've heard different performers play different parts of the Goldbergs. Now, we're putting them together. This is the complete 30 Bach version of the Goldberg, through 15 separate performances. It's Bach's Goldberg Variations, with some twists and turns.

Musical recording credits available...


May 21, 2021

At last, we bring it all together with the return of the aria. It's the same place we began, and yet it feels different, colored by the journey. A journey through many different worlds, different places, different people's lives. Lowry Yankwich plays the final aria.


May 14, 2021

Variation 30. In the last variation of the Goldbergs, Bach returns home, to a tradition of his family: creating mashups. 

Interview with and performance by German pianist Lennart Felix, with additional commentary by Kristian Nyquist, Angela Hewitt, Jeremy Denk, and Philip Kennicott.

Interview recorded October 24,...


Apr 30, 2021

Variations 26, 27, 28, and 29. These variations vibrate with joy, energy, excitement. We explore the times when Bach could let loose and lose himself in play within his music.‍

First interview conducted on November 10, 2017, over Skype. Second interview, and recording of performance conducted on August 6, 2018.


Apr 23, 2021

If the Goldbergs are a celebration of life, variation 25 is a reckoning with mortality, revealing pain but also providing comfort. In this episode, we hear from many different people, including pianist Jeremy Denk, Washington Post critic Philip Kennicott, scholar Eric Motley, pianist William Heiles, and dancer Melissa...