Hyperion Records | Holloway: Gilded Goldbergs

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CDA67360

Buy? £13.99

Recording details: June 2002
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Martin Compton
Engineered by Ken Blair
Release date: November 2002
Total duration: 97 minutes 46 seconds

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RECORD OF THE MONTH (GRAMOPHONE)

DISC OF THE WEEK (THE SUNDAY TIMES)

'A marvellous work … Whatever your CD priorities to date, this one surely has to fly straight to the top of your wants list' (Gramophone)

'Stimulating and immensely enjoyable music … The discs have seldom been off my player in recent days – the work draws one back and draws one in, and I'm sure this will be the reaction of many who acquire the set' (International Record Review)

'A remarkable achievement … Rollicking, camp good fun' (The Sunday Times)

'The 19th and 20th centuries come crashing in, summoning various trends and composers’ shades, with Bach’s genius always poking through. The young team of Jennifer Micallef and Glen Inanga … bounce through the work, the finger-work clean, the spirits high' (The Times)

'A stunning recreation given a commanding performance' (Classic FM Magazine)

'intriguing, witty and wholly engaging' (Gramophone)

'Rarely has a new composition impressed me as strongly as this one' (American Record Guide)

'this is obviously a labour of love … it also is willing to take risks of creative imagination and even of taste, the courage of which I salute … Jennifer Micallef and Glen Inanga sound fluent and suitably flamboyant throughout, and I can only assume the composer is pleased with their dedication' (Fanfare, USA)

'What a delight this recording is! … I think Holloway’s fanciful new construction using Bach’s bricks inspires deep admiration' (Chamber Music Magazine)

'This two-piano transcription and elaboration of Bach’s Goldberg Variations might be enjoyed equally (and simultaneously) for its musical range and for the wonderful playing of Nigerian pianist Glen Inanga and, from Malta, Jennifer Micallef' (Hi-Fi News)

Holloway: Gilded Goldbergs

The Micallef-Inanga Piano Duo

		Gilded Goldbergs, Op 86 Robin Holloway (b1943) & Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
CD1	1	Part 1. 1st Set No 1. Aria: G major [3'41]
	2	Part 1. 1st Set No 2. Variation 1: Expanding the theme. G [2'27]
	3	Part 1. 1st Set No 3. Variation 2: Simple tonal cubism. G-D [1'35]
	4	Part 1. 1st Set No 4. Variation 3: Canon at the unison. G [2'45]
	5	Part 1. 1st Set No 5. Variation 4: Simply through some keys. G-G [1'52]
	6	Part 1. 2nd Set No 1. Variation 5: Vivace à la Scarlatti. C [0'50]
	7	Part 1. 2nd Set No 2. Variation 6: Canon at the second. C-A flat [2'23]
	8	Part 1. 2nd Set No 3. Variation 7: Gigue in antiphony. A flat/C [1'35]
	9	Part 1. 2nd Set No 4. Variation 8: Enhanced replay of Variation 1. G [3'43]
	10	Part 1. 2nd Set No 5. Variation 9: Canon at the third. Homage to Grainger. E flat [2'15]
	11	Part 1. 2nd Set No 6. Variation 10: 'Robust and a bit gormless'. Wrong-note music. B [1'31]
	12	Part 1. 2nd Set No 7. Variation 11: Dreaming. Homage to Schubert and Brahms. G [2'57]
	13	Part 1. 3rd Set No 1. Variation 12: Canon at the fourth. E [3'00]
	14	Part 1. 3rd Set No 2. Variation 13: Cantilena 1. Double variation with homage to Dowland. G/E flat minor [9'05]
	15	Part 1. 3rd Set No 3. Variation 14: Energico. A flat minor [2'03]
	16	Part 1. 3rd Set No 4. Variation 15: Canon at the fifth. G minor [4'24]
CD2	1	Part 2. 4th Set No 1. Variation 16: French Overture and homage to Nancarrow. G sharp minor [6'22]
	2	Part 2. 4th Set No 2. Variation 17: Hungarian cymbalom. Homage to Bartók, Ligeti, Kurtág – Doïna – Homage to Enescu. E minor [3'55]
	3	Part 2. 4th Set No 3. Variation 18: Canon in sixths. D flat [4'25]
	4	Part 2. 4th Set No 4. Variation 19: Ländler and trio 'Brief history of Austro-German music in triple time'. B flat [4'37]
	5	Part 2. 4th Set No 5. Variation 20: Vivace con brio. D [1'44]
	6	Part 2. 4th Set No 6. Variation 21: Canon at the seventh. G minor [2'31]
	7	Part 2. 4th Set No 7. Variation 22: Churchy counterpoint in antiphony. A flat [2'06]
	8	Part 2. 4th Set No 8. Variation 23: Diatonic scrunches 'Homage to Tippett'. F [2'22]
	9	Part 2. 5th Set No 1. Variation 24: Canon at the octave. Complex journey through some keys. G/G minor-B flat [2'51]
	10	Part 2. 5th Set No 2. Variation 25: Cantilena 2. G minor [5'40]
	11	Part 2. 5th Set No 3. Variation 26a: Sarabande. G [1'14]
	12	Part 2. 5th Set No 5. Variation 27: 'Trio' – Canon at the ninth. F [0'46]
	13	Part 2. 5th Set No 4. Variation 26b: Sarabande resumed – Rückblick – Homage to Schumann. A major/A minor [2'14]
	14	Part 2. 5th Set No 6. Variation 28: 'Summer afternoon'. Hazy trills and tremolos. G [1'35]
	15	Part 2. 5th Set No 7. Variation 29: Toccata with clusters. F sharp [3'24]
	16	Part 2. 5th Set No 8. Variation 30: Quodlibet. Traversing all twelve keys, ending D [3'15]
	17	Part 2. 5th Set No 9. Aria da capo: G [2'39]

Robin Holloway writes in his notes for this record that 'It seems both odd and foolish to take one of the acknowledged pinnacles of western music and 'recompose' it'. But his 'Goldberg adventure' (as he calls it) began with modest aims as a didactic piece. Frustrated as a single pianist by inability to clarify the close-weave canons or manage the more fiendish hand-crossing so idiomatic on a twomanual harpsichord, he began to transcribe a few for two pianos. Over the next few years he became absorbed with the task and ended up with another 30 completely new 'Goldberg' variations which have delighted and entertained audiences who've been lucky enough to hear the work. Here it is played by the exciting Micallef-Inanga Piano Duo who have made a speciality of the piece.

Since it plays for 120 minutes two discs are needed to accommodate it, so here they are for the price of one.