Upcoming events of the SeventyFourth Season of The William

Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot

Belin Concerts

National Gallery of Art Vocal Ensemble

Songs inspired by mythology. Presented

in honor of Power and Pathos: Bronze

Sculptures of the Hellenistic World

January 31, Sunday, 3:30 

West Building, West Garden Court

Cantus

The Four Loves

February 7, Sunday, 3:30

West Building, West Garden Court

Cann Duo

Music from the African diaspora, including

works by Leonard Bernstein, Margaret

Bonds, Stephen Foster, Astor Piazzolla,

and George Walker. Presented in honor of

African American History Month

February 14, Sunday, 3:30 

West Building, West Garden Court

Bennewitz Quartet

Music by Czech composers

February 21, Sunday, 3:30 

West Building, West Garden Court

General Information

Admission to the National Gallery of Art

and all of its programs is free of charge,

except as noted.

The use of cameras or recording equipment

during the performance is not allowed.

Please be sure that all portable electronic

devices are turned off.

Concerts are made possible in part

through the generosity of donors to the

National Gallery of Art through The Circle.

Reserved seating is available in recognition

of their support. Please contact the

development office at (202) 842-6450 or

circle@nga.gov for more information.

www.nga.gov

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www.twitter.com/ngadc

www.facebook.com/nationalgalleryofart

The department of music produced these

program notes. Copyright © 2016 Board of

Trustees, National Gallery ofArt, Washington

Cover Anonymous, Concert of Birds (detail), 

1660/1670, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 

Gift of John Dimick

m

74TH SEASON 

OF CONCERTS

JANUARY 24, 2016 • NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
PROGRAM

3:30 • West Building, West Garden Court

Aspen String Trio

David Perry, Violin

Victoria Chiang, Viola

Michael Mermagen, Cello

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

Transcription for string trio by Dmitry Sitkovetsky

Performed without intermission

Aria

Variation 1

Variation 2

Variation 3: Canon on the unison 

Variation 4 

Variation 5

Variation 6: Canon on the second

Variation 7

Variation 8

Variation 9: Canon on the third

Variation 10: Fughetta 

Variation 11

Variation 12: Canon on the fourth

Variation 13

Variation 14

Variation 15: Canon on the fifth

Variation 16: Overture

Variation 17

Variation 18: Canon on the sixth

Variation 19

Variation 20

Variation 21: Canon on the seventh 

Variation 22: Alla breve

Variation 23

Variation 24: Canon on the octave 

Variation 25

Variation 26

Variation 27: Canon on the ninth

Variation 28

Variation 29

Variation 30: Quodlibet

Aria da capo

3 * National Gallery of Art

The Musicians

Sold-out houses and standing ovations characterize the performances of the renowned

Aspen String Trio. After more than twenty years of friendship and music-making, Aspen

String Trio members David Perry, Victoria Chiang, and Michael Mermagen are an ensemble

with magical synergy. These three world-class instrumentalists each have a long-time

association as artist-faculty with the Aspen Music Festival; combined they have performed

across the globe in the world's most prestigious venues. "The energy, spontaneity, and

sheer enjoyment we find together is a constant inspiration to us, and a joy to our audiences!"

The ensemble delights in offering —with humor and insight —virtuoso performances

of the rich string trio repertoire, including works by Beethoven, Mozart, and Schubert, as

well as lesser-known blockbuster works by Dohnanyi, Flindemith, Martinu, Rozsa, Klein,

Veress, Villa-Lobos, and Ysaye, among others. Recent and upcoming performances and

residencies include Chicago, the Los Angeles Music Guild, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, 

Alabama, the University of Delaware, and Baltimore, where for six seasons the trio was 

the ensemble-in-residence at the University of Baltimore. A notable upcoming recording

project includes the string trios and other music of Martinu for the Naxos label. A regular 

on Baltimore's classical station WBJC, the Aspen String Trio is regularly featured on Face

the Music and Music in Maryland.

Program Notes

Johann Sebastian Bach's monumental work, the Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, was composed in 1741. The story of the work's origin, perhaps apocryphal, is nonetheless compelling:

Bach received a commission for a set of keyboard variations from Count Kaiserling, the

insomniac Russian ambassador to the Saxon Court. Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, a talented

harpsichordist and one of Count Kaiserling's musicians, performed the work for the count

at his bedtime to help aid his sleep.

This complex work of genius consists of an aria and a set of thirty variations, based

on the bass line of the theme. Every third variation is a canon: variation three is a canon at

the unison, variation six is a canon at the second, variation nine is a canon at the third, and

so on until variation twenty-seven, which is a canon at the ninth. The variations following

each canon are genre pieces of different types, including some Baroque dances, a fugue,

and a French overture. The variations following the genre pieces are virtuosic movements.

Inspired by the 1981 Glenn Gould recording, Russian violinist Dmitry Sitkovetsky

transcribed Bach's masterpiece for string trio in 1984. This transcription was then followed

by a version for string orchestra that has been performed worldwide.

Program notes by Victoria Chiang

74th Season • 4