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Old 08-17-2010, 10:12 PM   #98 (permalink)
VEGANGELICA
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Originally Posted by rondo View Post

And my top 5 works would be:

1. Debussy - La Mer
2. Verdi - La Traviata
3. Sibelius - En Saga
4. Bach - Goldberg Variations
5. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major (Waldstein)
I'd never heard Bach's Goldberg Variations before Pomegrant posted a video (above), and now I'm listening to all 30 to appreciate them more.

I like the way Bach constrains himself to be creative within certain limitations he decides upon. For example, I read that in the Goldberg Variations, "after a statement of the aria at the beginning of the piece...the variations do not follow the melody of the aria, but rather use its bass line and chord progression." Goldberg Variations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I never thought of just using the chord progression or bass line to form musical variations of a theme, instead of just doing simpler variations of the melody! Listening to the Goldberg Variations, I wouldn't have realized this is what is going on unless I had read about it.
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