Livestream: Henning Kraggerud with the Arctic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra

November 23, 2017, 8:10 AM · We have a special treat for today, an exclusive live stream of a concert Thursday called "Polar Night Baroque," led by violinist Henning Kraggerud with the Arctic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, in Tromsø, Norway. The program includes a chamber music version of Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations, BWV 988. Enjoy!

Here are the program notes from the Arctic Philharmonic:

The Goldberg Variations is a keyboard suite originally written for harpsichord, which was published in 1741. Bach composed these variations for one of his pupils who was employed as a harpsichordist at the Russian Embassy. The ambassador, Count Keyserling, suffered from insomnia and wanted to be played to sleep! The Count was so impressed with the work that he presented Bach with a golden goblet filled with 100 louis-d’or, which is believed to be the largest reward Bach ever received for a composition. The suite consists of an aria and 30 relatively short variations. In recent times, the work is best known through the recordings of pianist Glenn Gould. A version for chamber orchestras will be performed at this concert with Artistic Director Henning Kraggerud as leading concertmaster.

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