Bach: Goldberg Variations - Variation 18. Canone alla Sesta (synthesized)

YouTube Uploaded by ScrollingMusic on Feb 9, 2012

Update: Re-Uploaded by ScrollingMusic on Feb 10, 2012
[reuploaded with better balance]

"Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 - Variation 18. Canone alla Sexta. a 1 Clav.

this 3-voice variation is a canon at the sixth. The canon is markedly visible in the red and green voices, as the red imitates the green, delayed by a half note.

About the 18th variation:
This is a canon at the sixth in 2/2 time. The canonic interplay in the upper voices features many suspensions. Commenting on the structure of the canons of the Goldberg Variations, Glenn Gould cited this variation as the extreme example of "deliberate duality of motivic emphasis [...] the canonic voices are called upon to sustain the passacaille role which is capriciously abandoned by the bass." Gould spoke very fondly of this canon in a radio conversation with Tim Page: "The canon at the sixth -- I adore it, it's a gem. Well, I adore all the canons, really, but it's one of my favorite variations, certainly." (from Wikipedia: Goldberg Variations)

The sound featured in this video is a slightly modified version of one of our earliest MATLAB synthesizer sounds. We used our 'guitar' voice, but added slightly more harmonic content to the attack. For this video, we chose to work with a single instrument and a simple timbre to avoid an overly thick texture. While in a sense, this video is a sort of returning to our roots, it is also our first video to be rendered in 1080p :)"