XENIA PESTOVA BENNETT / ED BENNETT PERFORM KARLHEINZ ESSL’S GOLD.BERG.WERK

Pioneering Austrian composer Karlheinz Essl offers a radical reinterpretation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Time-stretched harmonies are manipulated in real time and played back through spatialised loudspeakers in between the variations played by virtuoso pianist Xenia Pestova Bennett, bringing together baroque and contemporary sound worlds. This new reimagining of Bach’s vision juxtaposes the variations in a new strictly symmetrical structure which reflects the binary form of the original aria (a microcosm within a macrocosm with binary divisions commonly found in digital systems). No two performances are the same due to the live algorithmic generation of the electronic interludes. Gold.Berg.Werk transcends itself and becomes a new piece in its own right, creating a sense of space and distance unimaginable in Bach’s time.

This concert will celebrate the official launch of a new recording of this piece on the Ergodos label.

Xenia Pestova Bennett / piano
Ed Bennett / live electronics

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