Nevermind Ensemble on recasting Bach's Goldberg Variations

An arrangement of Bach's ever-inspiring Goldberg Variations for chamber quartet - Ensemble Nevermind find novelty and a sense of interpersonal give-and-take in Bach's music. Gramophone rightly praised the recording for its sophistication, at the 'expense' of a showier approach that might have placed a higher priority on simply playing around with the sonic and textural possibilities.

Against a backdrop of enormously different approaches (some clearly relishing their iconoclastic unorthodoxy!), this reimagining of the Goldbergs takes its place firmly among the light-touch accounts, working with rather than against the grain of the music - arrangements that sound as natural and authentic as if Bach had written the music this way to begin with.

When Rachel Podger and Brecon Baroque released their album last year that did a similar thing on a larger scale (and with the violin decidedly to the fore as a solo instrument), we realised with a certain amount of glee that we had just about the right number of Goldberg arrangements available to assemble a playlist with a different instrumentation for each variation - so that's what we did! You can listen to that below or on our streaming service, and explore the full dizzying variety of how different artists and groups, including Nevermind, have drawn on Bach's material.

I spoke to the four members of Ensemble Nevermind - flautist Anna Besson, violinist Louis Creac'h, gambist Robin Pharo and harpsichordist Jean Rondeau - about how this album came to be. Readers within range of London can also catch Nevermind performing this programme at the Wigmore Hall this Sunday (9th) at 7.30pm.

Image credit: Rita Cuggia

Where did your ensemble’s name come from? Were/are you big Nirvana fans?

ANNA - To be honest, even if some of us love Nirvana’s music, the choice of name is not related to the group at all! So no tribute to their most famous album here, just a brainstorm after rehearsing at Jean's place after we received our first contract for a concert. I would say that "nevermind" represents to some extent our philosophy. We started as four friends wanting to play music together and we're aiming for our music and friendship to continue as easily as it has done these past 10 years. Music is the best place to escape life’s everyday issues and we’re trying our best to keep it that way in “nevermind”!

The Goldbergs have been a rich vein of inspiration for arrangers over the years; were you influenced by any other versions when creating this new chamber version?

JEAN - Once you immerse yourself in this rich work, you quickly understand why it has inspired so many: extraordinary formal architecture, boundless inventiveness in the writing, style that reaches fever pitch etc…. It's also the greatness and power of the work that, over the course of musical history, has prompted many to produce a wide variety of transcriptions. For our part, we didn't refer to any particular transcription, as we wanted to be as close as possible to the text, which already contains a huge amount of information. Our approach was also very connected to our instruments: unless we're mistaken, the Goldberg Variations have never been transcribed for this set-up. So, the text and the instrumentation themselves were sufficient guides to direct our choices and our artistic impulses. 

LOUIS - We knew that certain transcriptions existed, notably the “historic" one for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky, but with a completely different aesthetic. Or that certain colleagues had done similar projects on period instruments, but for other set-ups. In both cases we preferred to create our own way. 

The booklet cites you all, collectively, as the arrangers - how collaborative was the process of arranging the Variations?

ANNA - Robin played a large part in creating the new score as well as doing the arrangement, together with Jean’s help. As for Louis and I, the residency we undertook allowed us to go through every variation and try many different settings, such as exchanging the two upper parts, giving some bars to the violins and some to the flute in order to find the most beautiful timbres and give as much clarity to the music. 

JEAN - I took care of the variations that were most specifically for the keyboard. Thanks to my experience as a harpsichordist, I wanted to express the intentions of the composer through the technical innovations in harpsichord playing offered by the original version of the Goldbergs (some of the passages are highly innovative in their use of the hands on the keyboard). 

All members of the ensemble took part in the transcriptions as a sort of collective work, particularly during the residencies. Each musician was able to identify problems specific to their respective instruments. However decisions of music and form had to be taken collectively.

ROBIN - After our first rehearsals in 2023 and Jean's rather crazy idea, I started copying the work in September of that year. As it happens, I’ve been mastering a music copying software, which made it easier for me to create the score; the idea of copying the entire score was also a very exciting prospect. Historically people used to copy a lot of music by hand, in order to understand it and how it worked... On the computer you can also get deep into the music. Jean quickly took care of transcribing the most “bizarre” variations, where the harpsichord playing was at its most extraordinary and virtuosic.

For the rest, I had to deal with things that were very simple to transcribe, where sometimes there was nothing to do but put on four staves what was written for two... For others, questions around tessitura and choice of instruments were a real headache. Even though we both took care of the writing, how the work deals with the reality of Louis and Anna's instruments was a key stage in the transcription. At that point, we pooled our respective skills to correct everything that needed to be corrected. Without the ease of working together, this transcription wouldn't have been as successful, and that's why we want to say symbolically that beyond the actual work carried out by Jean and I, this transcription is by Nevermind.

What led you to orchestrate the return of the aria differently from its first appearance at the beginning of the Variations?

ROBIN - In working on copying the whole score, I completely fell in love with the work. I must admit that I never excepted to discover that the work was so impressive. We’re all familiar with the richness, expressiveness and complexity of Johann Sebastian Bach’s music. It  often overwhelms us. Sometimes we also have to learn to recognise it. The Goldberg Variations cycle is an extremely radiant work. It’s difficult to talk about it simply because it’s a work whose beauty and joy escape our attempts to describe it. In any case, I quickly had the idea to harmonise with strings the final Aria in order to illustrate the happiness we had felt in spending time with the work.

This type of playing was common in the 17th century. It reminds us of religious German works by Dietrich Buxtehude or Heinrich Schütz, where the singers could be accompanied by several viola da gamba. As the Aria’s melody is above all that of immense beauty, it felt natural to draw inspiration from the entire work and create a more personal harmonisation. It allows us to finish with a little touch of the contemporary and, above all, to finish this immense journey by all four of us playing together, to end the final note of the work, of the concert, all with the same gesture…the harmonisation work benefited from Jean's external eye as well as that of Stéphane Delplace, which was decisive for the rest of the transcription, and which allowed our arrangements to align personal taste with rigorous writing.

I note that you borrowed the Ricercar Consort’s organ to form part of your continuo section; have your two ensembles worked together in the past?

JEAN - In a recording, the choice of instruments as a keyboardist is crucial. The idea is to be able to find an instrument that goes well with the microphones, that is compatible with the recording process with regards to the sound, but also harmonises well with the other instruments in terms of timbre and dynamics etc…. For this project in particular, we had the privilege of having three keyboards:  an Italian harpsichord by Philippe Humeau, a German harpsichord by Jonte Knif and Arno Pelto, and a completely exceptional organ of unparalleled richness, by Luc Meurice that indeed belongs to the Ricercar Consort.

Philippe Pierlot’s ensemble is a rich source of inspiration for us and, I think, for the early music scene in general. We have not, however, had the chance for the two ensembles to collaborate. It’s important to note that the Nevermind quartet is not variable in its formation and the group members have never been interchanged or replaced. I think that’s what also brings strength to this project…a sound connected to four musicians who, over the years, have learned to meld their respective sounds to benefit the overall sound.

This year Nevermind turns ten, and you’ve previously recorded CPE Bach, Telemann, Guillemain and Quentin  - what are your plans for the next decade?

ROBIN – We’re trying to give ourselves time on this…this project has required a lot of energy. Today the quality of an album also depends on the maturity of a project…transcribing the Goldbergs fell into our lap. For us, in terms of our artistic lives, I think there will be a before and after…..The rest takes time.

LOUIS - Of all our recordings, I think this project is the one that appealed to us most immediately, and whose long development really nourished us and kept us on our toes. We'll probably feel a little nostalgic to take on such a challenge for a future project. Perhaps looking at pieces from a fundamentally different compositional period would bring us a new freshness...