Phase XI – The Goldberg Variation

The Goldberg Variation (Bach Clock)- for one, two or more pianists (2012) is based on Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg variations. But whereas Bach’s version takes around 30 minutes to play from beginning to end, this version is stretched to 12 hours and 25 minutes. Each note in the original score is struck at even intervals, every two seconds. The rythm is evened out, the dynamics are flattened: every sense of musical direction is gone. What remains is a solemn enumeration of all the tones that make up the original piece – a kind of clockwork.

/ Jesper Norda, 2016.

 

Here, a suggestion for a possible installation of the work have been set-up. A reserved place to listen to the piece, to leaf through over 400 pages of scores or follow the notes, one by one. The slow counting creates a mediative non-music experience. By deconstructing an existing (classical) work Norda invites the listeners to explore a new way of  interacting and listening to the piece.

 

The installation is set-up in a storage room under the roof and is accessible by appointment until the 16th of June 2022.

The Goldberg Variation (Bach Clock) – for one, two or more pianists (2012).

Part one.