J. S. Bach’s ‘Aria with Diverse Variations’ BW988, known today as the Goldberg Variations because of the romantic story that his pupil Johann Gottlieb Goldberg used it to soothe Bach’s employer’s insomnia, was in reality written in 1739-40, probably for his eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann. Whatever its origin, the Goldberg Variations is Bach’s largest and greatest work in variation form, imitated by later composers such as Beethoven, Brahms and Rachmaninov. Bach takes his simple aria through 30 variations, using a kaleidoscope of compositional devices and styles, including dance music, various types of counterpoint including strict canon, a French overture and a quodlibet combining several popular tunes. It is also a matchless compendium of virtuoso keyboard writing, exploiting the two-manual harpsichord to the full.

Steven Devine is one of the most eminent harpsichordists of his generation and has appeared regularly at the Suffolk Villages Festival in recent years. He plays with many prominent groups, including London Baroque and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and is Director of Development at the Finchcocks Musical Museum in Kent. His Chandos recording of the Goldberg Variations has been hailed by the critics: ‘a bravura display of the harpsichordist’s art. Highly recommended’ (The Observer); ‘among the best in a crowded field’ (The Gramophone). For today’s performance he uses the same harpsichord as on the recording, a large double-manual instrument by Colin Booth (2000) after J.C. Fleischer (Hamburg, 1710).