The Open Goldberg Variations is a project by pianist Kimiko Ishizaka, and MuseScore.com, to create a public domain recording and score of J.S. Bach's masterpiece, Die Goldberg Variationen (BWV 988).
J.S. Bach, Goldberg Variations BWV 988, Free Download
You can download the Open Goldberg Variations for free from Bandcamp. Formats include FLAC, WAV, AIF, and MP3. Downloads are “pay what you choose”, and are free of copyright (all uses allowed). The download includes the Goldberg Variations sheet music (PDF score).
The Open Goldberg Variations is also available on all major streaming platforms, such as Spotify and Deezer.
What People Say
“Ishizaka's interpretation is characterised by straightforward musicianship, immaculate technical aplomb and a warm, beautifully modulated sonority.”
“Counterpoint passes back and forth between the hands in a conversational and judiciously balanced manner”
Jed Distler, Gramophone Magazine, 2012
“She has the fleet fingers to speed through the virtuoso variations with compelling clarity and the sensitivity to probe the dramatic potential of the slower, more profound numbers, pleasurably aided by her consistently lovely tone.”
Robert Schulslaper, Issue 36:1 (Sept/Oct 2012), Fanfare Magazine
"Most importantly, the playing is excellent. Taken together with its no-cost availability and its reliance on a new freely available score, the Open Goldberg is now the obvious first stop for anyone approaching the Goldberg Variations for the first time.”
"The sound quality of the recording is top notch”
"In fact, the album's an audiophile gem.”
Christopher Lim in The Business Times, July 20, 2012
Contact: kimiko@kimiko-piano.com
MuseScore CEO, Thomas Bonte, and avid supporter Hans de Raad, with their Open Goldberg Variations scores.