TON DE KRUYF (b.1937): Metamorphosis I & II, GARTH KNOX (b.mid1960s?): Goldberg's Ghost, BRICE PAUSET (b.1965): 4 Variations, MARCEL REUTER (b.1973): Interludio, Désert/Forêt, BERNARD STRUBER (b.19??): Hotberg Stories.

Description: This release intersperses works by five contemporary composers, commissioned by the ensemble, among the movements of Bach's Goldberg Variations, on which they are more or less freely based. The Bach is played in a literal but elegant transcription for string trio by Dmitri Sitkovetsky. Goldberg's Ghost begins as a slightly unorthodox arrangement of Bach's material for viola d'amore and marimba, but gradually slips away into something less literal. From this point, the contemporary pieces, for a variety of colorful small ensembles, all sound thoroughly contemporary. The most instantly accessible are probably Struber's Hotberg Stories, with their somewhat jazzy, minimalism-inflected feel. Kruyf and Reuter derive the methodology for their compositions from Bach's meticulous structure; Pauset takes Bach's labyrinthine complexity into a modern vocabulary. Snatches of voices from Bach's music - a bass line here, a decorative ornament there - anchor the pieces audibly to the work on which they are based. Garth Knox (viola d'amore), United Ensemble of Lucilin.