GOLDBERG VARIATIONS complete for 2 Guitars

Origin:
The Goldberg Variations - or more precisely the famous " Aria with 30 variations for clavicembalo
with two manuals " - were published in 1742 as " Klavierübung vierter Teil ".
According to the anecdote, Bach wrote this work on behalf of Count Carl Hermann von Kayserling,
from whom Bach was richly rewarded with a golden cup filled with 100 louisdors. Bach's pupil
Johann Gottlieb Goldberg was appointed to make the Count's sleepless nights more bearable by
playing the harpsichord in a room next to his bedroom.
As if out of a pure desire to play, the variations on the Aria - originally a Sarabande from the 2nd
book of notes for Anna Magdalena from 1725 - rise from a simple, ascetic style then, from the 16th
variation on, to extremely complex, virtuosic musical gems in the final toccatas.
This work is not only one of the most important works of variation in the history of music, but
perhaps even one of the most significant testimonies of human creation.
Textual sources:
The sources and textual basis for the present arrangement for 2 guitars are the copy of the Aria in
Anna Magdalena's music booklet in the Berlin State Library and the copy of the original edition of the
variations corrected by Bach in his own handwriting, which is in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
Of the total of 30 variations, Bach wrote 19 of them for a harpsichord with one manual, and 11 for
two keyboards. The latter stand out in the original as particularly difficult for a guitaristic
arrangement for two instruments due to the changing voice-leadings, difficult interweaving and
rhythmic alternating movements of both hands, especially in Variatio 20, 23, 28, 29, in which both
voices are partly merged into the 1st guitar part, and the second contains a counterpoint inspired by
Bach's specifications and added by the arranger Walter Abt.
The transposition of the original key of G major to D major, with a " dropped D" on the 6th string in
the 2nd guitar, allows for a wide range of sound over four and a half octaves, and requires only
occasional octave changes - deviating from the original - which, when performed in the larger
context, are all noted in the text by octave signs. In contrast to a guitar version in G major - which, by
the way, sounds interesting with an octave and tenor guitar, but unfortunately entails many
octavations, and thus does not do justice to the original voice leading - the modulated version in D
major offers the greatest possible authenticity in the interval spacing of the polyphonic voices.