For his first appearance under the naïve label, the Chinese pianist Tianqi Du majestically embraces a monument for keyboard, the Goldberg Variations. His pianistic interpretation of Bach’s masterpiece affirms the principle of metamorphosis, always reinventing but never altering, emphasizing all the resources of the instrument. A compulsory piece for all keyboardists – and even other instrumentalists, if you count the many transcriptions they have undergone – the Goldberg Variations never sound the same. The voice rendered here by Tianqi Du – a young pianist taught and admired in his home country of China before studying with Meng-Chieh Liu at Boston’s New England Conservatory and now with Nicolas Hodges – is that of a dear, benevolent friend who always stood close by while he was growing up: “My encounter with the Goldberg Variations was like a musical compass that showed me the way,” he confides. “Bach has been a friend, a mentor and a savior in my hours of doubt and confusion.”
