Everyone has some – much or little – ear for Bach's Goldberg Variations. Glenn Gould or not, harpsichord or piano, in their entirety or fragmentary, the choice is free, but in trio form, that raises eyebrows with many. Eyebrows to which TrioFenix gave a wonderfully sounding answer: - both on the CD they recorded in early 2025 in the Chamber Music Hall of Concertgebouw Brugge for the label Evil Penguin Classic (2026 EPRC 0080, carefully produced and ecologically responsible) - and at the Afternoon Concert last Thursday in the well-filled Instrumentenmuseum Brussel.
TrioFenix consists of violinist Shirly Laub, viola player Tony Nys and cellist Karel Steylaerts. After a first CD with works by Mozart (2010) and a Beethoven CD in 2016, they decided to celebrate their twenty-year anniversary with Bach and with devotees at home and abroad. Bach's thirty iconic Variations BWV 988, framed by an ethereally beautiful Aria, date from 1742. In 1984 they received new life when violinist, conductor, arranger, chamber musician and festival director Dmitry Sitkovetsky (°1954) transcribed them for piano, alto and cello.
Legend links them to the sleepless nights of nobleman Carl von Keyserlingk, who sought solace in the interpretation of them by the young harpsichordist Johann Gottlieb Goldberg (1727-1756). But this is contradicted by dates and numbers. It is, however, a welcome subject for the three experienced seasoned artists: Shirly Laub, who radiates commitment and empathy from head to toe; Tony Nys, all restraint and control; and add to that the gleeful eyes and driven playing pleasure of Karel Steylaerts. Despite their diverse body language, there was an infectious group dynamic here. This naturally promoted the dialogue between the trio, their colourful expressivity and the remarkable contrapuntal clarity that never did Bach violence.
Highlights
Discussing the interpretation of the thirty Variations one by one would detract from the masterful unity that binds them. Yet the mention of eye-catching highlights imposes itself. Already from the very first measures of the Aria through a slow, expressive violin, cradled by the viola and cello, a refined symbiosis unfolded where every voice breathed and listened to the others. Then there was the contrasting brisk tempo with which the Trio launched the first Variation and the relentless cello accompaniment.
And how ingenious were the 'Canones'! And Variation V with the allure of a jumping dance. Followed a delightful intimate dialogue between violin and cello. Variation X is a cleverly constructed Fughetta, unmistakably marked 'Bach'. Roughly halfway through, a stately Overture surprises. But the pinnacle of listening pleasure was the chunk of pizzicatos in Variation XIX. Emotionally, Variation XXV moved most, an Adagio and one touching lament in the violin.
Aria
Then, almost 80 minutes later, after a joint chord, the Aria returns, as a worn weary reverie against an empathetic role of her two counterparts, as if she were tired of so many diverse emotions. No stranger, that Aria, for it is a sarabande that Bach drew from the 'Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach' that he had written 17 years earlier.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QDdXCo_C9k&t=9s[/embed]
