Review

Ralph Sauer
Practice with Bach Volume 4: 32 etudes based upon the Goldberg Variations (BWV 988)
Tenor trombone

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2020
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Etude book

Primary Genre: Study Material - etude

In 1741 Count Keyserlingk, the Russian ambassador to the court of Saxony, commissioned Johann Sebastian Bach to write a work for harpsichord. If Bach’s first biographer is to be believed, this work was written to be played by a 14-year old boy in the Count’s employ. The Count suffered from insomnia and the young teen’s playing helped to alleviate this condition. This young performer, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, went on to achieve fame in his own right as a virtuoso harpsichordist. While there is no corroborating evidence that the story above is true, Goldberg’s name lives on as the nickname given to Bach’s set of variations.

The Goldberg Variations were the final installment of Bach’s Klavier Übung, written “for the soul’s delight of lovers of music,” as the title page reads. They begin with a highly ornamented Aria and then proceed with 30 variations upon the 32-note bass line of the Aria. The Aria is repeated at the end. The Variations demonstrate Bach’s love of solving self-imposed musical problems and his complete mastery of polyphonic composition. Every third variation is canon. Other variations require rapid crossing of the hands, a technique made easier when performed on the double manual harpsichord for which the work was written.

This publication marks the fourth volume of Ralph Sauer’s Practice with Bach series. These etudes are derived from the Goldberg Variations. Sauer expertly condenses the many parts of the original score into 31 etudes for trombone. Unlike the Well Tempered Klavier, each of these movements is in G major. There are only three exceptions. Variations 15, 21, and 25, corresponding to etudes 16, 22, and 26 in the publication, are in G minor. The etudes are full of technical and musical difficulty. They certainly will challenge the trombonist’s upper register, rising frequently to d2. There are wide leaps to negotiate; rapid arpeggios spanning the range of the instrument, ornaments to work out, and a wide range of musical moods to express.

This publication sets a high standard for trombone etudes. They are carefully edited and extremely challenging. Their successful completion will require careful, painstaking practice. Certainly we all will benefit by revisiting the Goldberg Variations. Perhaps many of us have not listened to them since our collegiate music history classes. Sauer makes clear that these are not intended to be performed (pianists would laugh at us), but they do bring us closer to the genius of Bach. They will broaden us technically and musically, which is what Bach intended in the first place.