The title explains it all. Essentially, Robin Holloway has arranged, or more accurately, “de-ranged” Bach’s Goldberg Variations in a version for two pianos. Although he keeps much of the composer’s original counterpoint intact, he transposes the music up or down at whim, or sometimes has both pianos simultaneously play in two keys. He’ll embroider a self-contained three-part texture by doodling in a fourth line, or else he’ll alter Bach’s melodic patterns at unexpected moments so that Johann Sebastian can break bread with Elgar (or steal some of Pfitzner’s musty modulations for Variation 25!). By contrast, Holloway’s upbeat treatment of the canon at the ninth suggests Darius Milhaud’s unbuttoned energetic milieu.
While I find many of Holloway’s purposeful distortions cute and clever, they work best when they spring from heartfelt creative impulses. That occurs in variations where Holloway simply lets his imagination run amok. Variation No. 5’s rapid cross-handed figurations, for instance, inspire delicious dissonant showers that resemble two player pianos gone bonkers. The French Overture (Variation 16) also is transformed into a phantasmagoric, Sorabji-esque onslaught where hints of the original struggle to peer out from under the avalanche. And Holloway’s hauntingly sparse, slow-motion remake of the canon at the sixth truly transcends its baroque roots. Variation 19 is a madcap four-minute history of Austro-German music in triple time that could have been penned by Bach’s son (not C.P.E, not W.F, not even J.C., mind you, but P.D.Q.!).
I assume that the composer considers the Micallef-Inanga Piano Duo’s performance to be authoritative. Oddly enough, its most incisive, tightly-knit ensemble playing transpires during the quicker, busier variations. However, more exposed, moderately paced, and leaner-textured movements reveal a noticeable number of unison single notes or chords that are not well synchronized. The sonics seem relatively hollow and bloodless compared to the full-bodied, gorgeously modulated engineering characteristic of Hyperion’s piano releases. In any event, few living composers churn out two-piano works of this size and scope, and perhaps Holloway has launched a trend with this ambitious opus. What’s next? The “Dandified Diabellis?”The Pumped-up Paganinis?”
