A focus on Bach: the Manchester Collective

The music of Bach is the focus of the Manchester Collective's Live from Isolation on-line programme this weekend. On Saturday 18 April 2020, they are broadcasting part one of Bach's Goldberg Variation from 8pm on the ensemble's YouTube and Facebook pages. First published in 1741, Bach's mammoth set of variations was written for harpsichord, one of a series of later works in which the composer digested his technique into magisterial statements.

In this week's newsletter, the ensemble's CEO Adam Szabo admits to being something of a Bach agnostic ('discuss!'), but you can hear more on his talk on Instagram with Rakhi Singh [and you can read my interview with Adam on this blog]

For this recording the work is performed in a version for string trio with Rakhi Singh (violin), Ruth Gibson (viola) and Bartholomew La Follette (cello), recorded live at the Invisible Wind Factory in Liverpool. This venue was once a factory space on the Liverpool docks dedicated to the production of wind turbines... Today, the hidden substation under the building hosts Manchester Collective performances, experimental music and club nights.


To get you in the mood, there is Rakhi Singh's account of the 'Chaconne' from Bach's Partita No. 2 for solo violin, recorded live in Peckham, on YouTube.