Bach's Goldberg Variations
We come from Quy fairly regularly to the concerts in St. Cyriac's Church and made a point of coming to Ian de Massini's recital on September 12th. It was a surprise to see only a circle of chairs round the piano but by the time Ian came in and began to play they had all been filled.. He played the entire variations lasting some 50 minutes without a score and with only a brief pause halfway through. During the concert I suddenly had a vision of an eighteenth European court - a group of some 35 people as we were, listening even to Bach himself It has been a persistent rumour that the Variations were composed to be played when a certain count in Dresden was suffering from insomnia, though Ian's notes told us this was probably not true. In any event, listening to his superb interpretation kept us all awake as the sun streamed through the windows. We felt we were just as privileged as those courtiers, though in a different way.