J.S. Bach – Goldberg Variations for String Trio, BWV 988 (Transcription by Dmitry Sitkovetsky)

Germany, 1985: Violin virtuoso Dmitry Sitkovetsky plays his own arrangement for string trio of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, with Gerard Caussé (viola) and Mischa Maisky (’cello). Structure: Aria 0:22 Variation 1 4:52 Variation 2 5:52 Variation 3 - Canone all’Unisono 6:37 Variation 4 7:45 Variation 5 8:54 Variation 6 - Canone alla Seconda 10:58 Variation 7 - al tempo di giga 12:17 Variation 8 13:21 Variation 9 - Canone alla Terza 14:24 Variation 10 - Fugetta 15:53 Variation 11 17:27 Variation 12 - Canone alla Quarta 18:48 Variation 13 19:54 Variation 14 22:54 Variation 15 - Canone alla Quinta 25:06 Variation 16 - Ouverture 29:54 Variation 17 31:54 Variation 18 - Canone alla Sexta 33:00 Variation 19 34:35 Variation 20 36:37 Variation 21 - Canone alla Settima 37:59 Variation 22 - alla breve 40:45 Variation 23 42:11 Variation 24 - Canone all’Ottava 43:16 Variation 25 - Adagio 45:03 Variation 26 51:03 Variation 27 - Canone alla Nona 52:07 Variation 28 53:06 Variation 29 54:19 Variation 30 - Quodlibet 55:32 Aria da capo 57:26 Dmitry Sitkovetsky was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, to violinist Julian Sitkovetsky and pianist Bella Davidovich. His father died in 1958 when Sitkovetsky was just three years old and the family moved to Moscow where Dmitry entered the prestigious Moscow Conservatory. In 1977, aged twenty-two, he decided to leave the Soviet Union. In order to do this, he registered himself as mentally ill. Fortunately, his plan worked and Dmitry arrived in New York City on September 11, 1977, where he immediately began studying at the Juilliard School. Dmitry Sitkovetsky has built up a successful career as a violinist, conductor, arranger, chamber musician and festival director. Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, he grew up in Moscow studying at the Moscow Conservatory and after his emigration in 1977, at the Juilliard School in New York. Sitkovetsky has performed as a soloist with a number of the world’s leading orchestras including the Berlin, New York and LA Philharmonic Orchestras, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Concertgebouw Orchestra, all of the major London orchestras, NHK, Chicago, Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras. [...] Sitkovetsky also has a flourishing career as a conductor. In 1996, he was appointed principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Ulster Orchestra for five years, in 2001, was appointed conductor laureate, and from 2002-2005 held the position of principal guest conductor of the Russian State Orchestra. [...] Sitkovetsky is also the founding director of the New European Strings Chamber Orchestra (NES CO), established in 1990, which is composed of distinguished string players from Eastern & Western Europe. Since his successful transcription of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for string trio, he has transcribed more than 30 works mostly for string orchestra by Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Dohnanyi, Bartók, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Stravinsky and Schnittke. He has been a member of ASCAP since 1985 and his transcriptions are published by Doblinger, Sikorski and Schirmer. [...] Since 1987 he has resided in London with his wife, Susan, and their daughter, Julia.