Niklas Liepe & NDR Radiophilharmonie - GoldbergReflections (2020) [Hi-Res]

"An experiment ... that violinist Niklas Liepe dares to conduct here: to bathe the devil violin cycle of the Paganini Caprices in a new light: 22 contemporary composers have taken part in this experiment. Liepe plays... confidently, without tears... A worthwhile experiment," wrote the press about Niklas Liepe's "Paganini Project", which was published by Sony Classical in 2018. The young German violinist had recorded Paganini's famous caprices in new versions for violin and orchestra in collaboration with the renowned arranger Andreas N. Tarkmann. For his new album "#GoldbergReflections" Liepe has again recorded, in collaboration with Andreas N. Tarkmann, 13 variations from the famous "Goldberg-Variations" by Johann Sebastian Bach in a version for violin and strings. The violinist is accompanied by the NDR Radiophilharmonie under the direction of Jamie Phillips. Liepe has also invited eleven internationally renowned composers such as Moritz Eggert, Sidney Corbett, Wolf Kerschek, Rolf Rudin and Daniel Sundy to compose new variations based on the Bach original. Tarkmann has transposed the variations into a baroque concerto grosso sound. These variations thus create a connection to the original and at the same time frame the new compositions, which bring the "Goldberg Variations", written 280 years ago, into the present

Rolf Rudin, who is best known for his symphonic and chamber music works in the field of wind music, has written a virtuoso "Dialogue with Bach". The US-American composer Sidney Corbett, who has his musical roots on the electric guitar, deals with the "Aria" in his "Goldberg Hallucination Remix". Andreas N. Tarkmann's "Goldberg's Last Summer" revels in the great cinema sound. Wolf Kerschek has conjured up a jazz medley from the "Aria". In "Goldberg spielt" Moritz Eggert refers to the former pianist Goldberg, for whom Bach probably wrote his Variations. And in his "Four New Goldberg Variations" the American composer and double bass player Daniel Sundy even brings the American musical to life.

If you are ready to get involved in something new, you will have a lot of fun with this album. You have never heard Bach's "Goldberg Variations" so excitingly new and colourful.