Summer Concert 6: Bertold Trio

As the sixth concert in the "Summer Concerts" series organized by Musiklandschaften e.V., the Bertold Trio will be performing an arrangement of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations in the baroque church of St. Gallus in Merzhausen. The Goldberg Variations are among the most important works in Bach's late oeuvre. Starting from a beautifully simple aria, Bach uses his art of variation to create a musical world that contains all the forms and expressive possibilities of his time. Each of the 30 variations has its own character, but remains connected to the Aria and all the other pieces by the common bass structure. The spectrum of expression ranges from the immediate joy of musical playing at the highest level of virtuosity to meditative contemplation, for example in the 25th variation, which Bach wrote for the harpsichord. However, the two- and three-part structure of the pieces also allows them to be arranged for several melody instruments, making the polyphonic structure much more clearly audible. The Bertold Trio plays the Goldberg Variations in a version for string trio by Annette Bartholdy, which presents the work in the timbres of the three string instruments. The Bertold Quartet - named after the founder of its home town of Freiburg - has been made up of members of the Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the SWR Symphony Orchestra since 2008 and has already performed numerous concert programs on the opera stage, in live streams and on the radio. The current members of the Bertold Quartet are Michael Dinnebier (1st violin) and Katja Schill-Mahni (2nd violin) with Robert Woodward (viola) and Tomohisa Yano (cello).