J. S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 Zhu Xiao-Mei

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Goldberg Variations:
• 1 Aria 04:16
• 2 Variatio 1. A 1 Clav. 01:45
• 3 Variatio 2. A 1 Clav. 01:37
• 4 Variatio 3. Canone All'unisuono a 1 Clav. 01:44
• 5 Variatio 4. A 1 Clav. 01:07
• 6 Variatio 5. A 1 Ovvero 2 Clav. 01:30
• 7 Variatio 6. Canone Alla Seconda a 1 Clav. 01:31
• 8 Variatio 7. A 1 Ovvero 2 Clav. Al Tempo Di Giga 02:10
• 9 Variatio 8. A 2 Clav. 01:50
• 10 Variatio 9. Canone Alla Terza a 1 Clav. 01:46
• 11 Variatio 10. Fughetta a 1 Clav. 01:39
• 12 Variatio 11. A 2 Clav. 01:58
• 13 Variatio 12. Canone Alla Quarta a 1 Clav. 02:08
• 14 Variatio 13. A 2 Clav. 04:53
• 15 Variatio 14. A 2 Clav. 02:08
• 16 Variatio 15. Canone Alla Quinta a 1 Clav. 04:12
• 17 Variatio 16. Ouverture a 1 Clav. 03:00
• 18 Variatio 17. A 2 Clav.. 01:50
• 19 Variatio 18. Canone Alla Sexta a 1 Clav. 01:31
• 20 Variatio 19. A 1 Clav. 01:41
• 21 Variatio 20. A 2 Clav. 01:55
• 22 Variatio 21. Canone Alla Settima a 1 Clav. 02:46
• 23 Variatio 22. A 1 Clav. 01:42
• 24 Variatio 23. A 2 Clav. 02:05
• 25 Variatio 24. Canone All'ottava a 1 Clav. 02:33
• 26 Variatio 25. A 2 Clav. 07:58
• 27 Variatio 26. A 2 Clav. 02:09
• 28 Variatio 27. Canone Alla Nona a 2 Clav. 01:45
• 29 Variatio 28. A 2 Clav. 02:33
• 30 Variatio 29. A 1 Ovvero 2 Clav. 02:07
• 31 Variatio 30. Quodlibet a 1 Clav. 01:54
• 32 Aria da Capo 02:25
• Total Runtime 01:16:08

Info for J. S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

Zhu Xiao-Mei ranks among the greatest pianists of our times and is one of the most renowned interpreters of J. S. Bach’s music. The Goldberg Variations stood at the beginning of her international career and represent the “greatest musical encounter” of her life. “It is a universal piece of music that knows no frontiers”; this is the message of her extraordinary playing which is being celebrated in concert halls around the world. Her unique interpretation has now been captured on DVD for the first time. The live recording was produced at her critically acclaimed concert at the Leipzig Bach Festival 2014 at J. S. Bach’s final resting place in St. Thomas Church.

Zhu Xiao-Mei, piano

ZHU Xiao-Mei
occupies a place all her own in today’s musical world. Deliberately keeping her concerts few and far between, she appears in public only to perform especially demanding works, “mountains of the soul” which she judges essential, in interpretations matured over a long period of gestation, taking music to the most varied audiences in places that appeal to her and where she enjoys playing. But though she is nowadays the guest of the leading concert halls and the most prestigious festivals, though she plays with some of the most renowned orchestras and gives concerts everywhere in Europe, in Asia and in America, her career very nearly never took place at all.

Born in Shanghai, introduced to music by her mother at a very early age, she was already appearing on radio and television by the time she was eight.

At the age of ten she entered the Peking Conservatory, where her brilliant studies were interrupted by the years of the Cultural Revolution. She was sent to a reeducation camp on the border of Inner Mongolia for five years. However, thanks to sympathetic helpers she was eventually able to continue playing the piano.

On returning to Peking, she completed her studies at the Conservatory, and left China as soon as the regime gave its first signs of opening to the outside worlds. In 1980 she emigrated to the United States, then decided to settle in Paris in 1984.

From that time on, the career of ZHU Xiao-Mei, although begun relatively late and without any media coverage, began to take flight, going against all trends and fashions, in an incredible demonstration of the Confucian adage that

“life begins at forty”. She gives concerts all over the world, focusing on a repertoire which she limits to a few composers she cherishes above all others: Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann. At its very centre is Bach and his great cycles: The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Partitas and the Goldberg Variations, the work with which her name is particularly associated and which she has given in recital more than two hundred times, as well as The Art of Fugue.

Her autobiography La Rivière et son secret was published by Editions Robert Laffont (Paris) in October 2007 and was awarded the Grand Prix des Muses in 2008 (English translation at amazoncrossing: The Secret Piano).

ZHU Xiao-Mei is regularly invited to partipate to the jurys of international piano competitions (Clara Haskil, Long-Thibaud, Bach Leipzig,…). She has also teached during many years at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris.

Booklet for J. S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988