This is a quite well known piece of 100+ snippets that can be played as many as you like as long as you like on pretty much anything, but usually piano. It has been used by NDT, the famous Dutch dance company. Unfortunately from the samples they donāt seem to work on string quartet. Iām listening to a piano set live from the Concertgebouw and itās pretty chilling stuff very much in the mould of Steve Reich (think āMusic for 18 Musiciansā - also used for dance by the Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker). From memory, Music for 18 Musicians includes 6 pianos (Iāve heard and seen it live twice) and the concept was to create something without clear focus, which is quite anti-music and disconcerting. This is similar.
Hmmm, I found them working very well with a string quartet as I listened to this recording. Iāll have to listen to some of it on piano to hear the differences. I suppose it may be a function of what one may be expecting from other exposure to the composition. For me, this was a first listening to the work in any form.
See further comments above. It is rather derivative. Also brings Nils Frahm to mind. There is a Marimba version as well. (Coincidence that Music for 18 Musicians has 6 Marimbas?)
I find that I have an orchestra performance of this music by the Noord Nederlands Orkest. So, in a few days, Iāll give that a listen to get another perspective on the music.
The Concertgebouw one is piano and 4 marimbas. Lovely.
Iām getting suspicious because composition of this pice commenced at exactly the same time (1976) that Music for 18 Musicians was first performed and released.
Itās also very similar in places to Philip Glassās Akhnaten, a truly wonderful opera, although that was composed in the 1980s.
Well, much music seems derivative from time to time. Who said something to the effect that āplagiarism is the highest complementā? I think this has been particularly true of music over the centuries.
We didnāt have Goldberg Variations for a few weeks (after I recommended Fazil Say). Here Jiās version, recorded by one of my favorite engineers Antonio Oliartā¦ you canāt afford to miss it out. Itās maybe not the most essential but still one of the really good onesā¦and the distant piano sound is simply magic. Maybe the most fascinating sounding Goldberg. And thereās never enough Goldberg Variations 
Qobuz got there in the end nd corrected the incorrect track listings.
Highresaudio are still a complete mess.
Very good! Iāve been quite impressed with what Iāve seen of Qobuz, though Iām not a subscriber. If I were to subscribe to a streaming service, they would be my choice.
I started - itās fascinating. Rather mischievous and completely off the rails (wormhole to a jazz club?) in places in a good way, then scampers off like a naughty child (Var 5). They gets all lugubrious. I think Bach would have approved. At times itās stripped bare and is very elegant and beautiful, but so far no real emotional engagement. And Iām only about 20 minutes in.
Iāve got things to do. This needs a really good listen. Thanks.
I can see why you like it.
I agree! Never too many Goldberg Variations, and Jiās version is very well done! Cheers.
perfect music on this very cold dayā¦
Sony Classical
September 1992
Pittsburgh, PA
another fine Steve Epstein/Bud Graham (3-mic) recording
Coincidentally, BBC Music Magazineās cover article last month was about a collaboration between Mark Padmore and Mitsuko Uchida, with a specific focus on their brand new release of Schwanengesang:
Yeah I saw the review in Gramophone as well. Planning to listen to it.
I just love Ian Bostridge. Anything by him is worth listening to (for me at least).
This was a live recording at Wigmore Hall from last May. The programme notes and texts are available to download here:
