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Reviewer:
Bertil van Boer Growing up, one of the most vivid memories I have is of Walt Disney’s Fantasia, an iconic film that combined a series of classical hits with animation. And while some of it may not be entirely to today’s taste, such as the Ponchielli Dance of the Hours with the flying hippo and rakish crocodile, or the cavorting of Greek mythological critters to Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, one memory that stands out is the orchestration of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, a work that is monumental enough for organ, but took on a vibrant set of colors when performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski. I mention this only to note that orchestral arrangements of Bach’s keyboard works are not common, and there is some substance to the issue of whether they ought to be orchestrated at all, but rather enjoyed solely in their original form. But in this arrangement, at least, a certain popular stature was attained. Here, the Britten Sinfonia has released a disc of the entire Goldberg Variations as arranged for orchestra by Dmitri Sitkovetsky back in 1985 for the tercentennial of the composer’s birth. Born in the Soviet Union in 1954, Sitkovetsky attended Julliard at the age of 22 and subsequently he has made for himself a career both as a violinist and as a conductor. Expanding upon this, he has created arrangements of numerous works by major composers such as Brahms and Beethoven, so Bach is a natural continuation. This version for strings attempts to retain the careful nuances of the keyboard original and yet imbue it with the softer timbres of the strings. Of course, the multitude of recordings of this work offer a plethora of interpretations, and even the inspiration for this arrangement, the Glenn Gould recording, is still regarded by many as the model of grace and interpretive skill. Thus the transference from keyboard to strings says more about both the adaptability of the music to other settings and Sitkovetsky’s skill in bringing out the various nuances than it does about Bach’s keyboard variations themselves, of which numerous recordings exist on both modern and period instruments. This disc begins softly with a single trio rendition of the aria, which then develops, beginning with a more fully articulated first variation. By the canon at the unison, the work has unfolded nicely, with the overtones of the strings blending smoothly. Beyond this, my favorites are Variation 16, the Ouverture, which is crisp and clean, with the dotted rhythms of the strings reinforcing the French style. Variation 23 has a wonderfully mincing quality in the pair of violins that float and then whip up and down the chromatic scale. Variation 25 has a mournful sound that is particularly effective with the violin melody and lower string accompaniment lending it depth. Of course, the Quodlibet (Variation 30) is a perennial favorite, here performed in stately tread, almost like a thick-textured folk song. There is no doubt that Sitkovetsky’s instrumentation is careful and innovative, and he chooses the textures of the strings with a view towards bringing out Bach’s many implied colors. I consider it fully compatible with the Stokowski Toccata of so many years ago, masterfully done and extremely musical. The performance by the Britten Sinfonia is likewise effective. The choices of texture (single instruments or as a group) are well performed, giving considerable contrast to the variations. While this will certainly not replace keyboard performances of the Goldberg Variations, especially on period instruments, it gives a perception on the talents of Sitkovetsky and Bach’s flexible music, which can tolerate such arrangements for a larger ensemble. One might even imagine the composer himself finding this arrangement very much to his liking. | |
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