"I have composed a big sonata and variations for four hands, and the latter have met with a specially good reception here, but I do not entirely trust Hungarian taste, and I shall leave it to you and to the Viennese to decide their true merit" So wrote Franz Schubert in 1824, evoking the popular 19th-century genre for 4-hands piano that publishers were always pestering him to write for. In his brief life Schubert devoted 32 compositions to this form and the least of these pieces, be it a ländler, polonaise or march, radiates with all of his finesse and sensitivity. Three are incontestable masterpieces, in the same rank as his sonatas or quartets: the Variations D813, the Fantasie D 940 and the Rondo D 951. All three date from the composer’s final years, a period that gave birth to his most accomplished works.
In concert, Andreas Staier and Alexander Melnikov have played Bach’s 'Well-Tempered Clavier', with Staier at the harpsichord, alongside Shostakovich’s '24 Preludes and Fugues', with Melnikov at the piano. Sharing a keyboard evidently suits them just as well; their unique musical complicity bringing together four hands and two immense talents.

Andreas Staier (Anthony Sidey harpsichord after Hass)
+bonus DVD 25minutes
Andreas Staier on the Goldbergs.
"In the Goldberg Variations, Bach used the possibilities offered by the instrument's double keyboard. The work is totally suited to the harpsichord, whereas trying to play it on the piano is like attempting to square the circle." Andreas Staier
Andreas Staier waited nearly a quarter of a century to play the Goldbergs in public: his first performance of it was in Montreal at the end of April 2000. This is his first, long-awaited recording. Undoubtedly one of the most prominent harpsichord and forte piano performers in the world, Andreas Staier embarked upon a solo career in 1986 and, since then, his indisputable musical mastery has made its mark on the interpretation of baroque, classical and romantic repertoire. His extensive discography has won great critical awards from the international press: Mozart's Sonatas in two CDs, Haydn concertos with the Freiburger Barockorchester, Hamburg 1734 (with the German harpsichordist Christine Schornsheim). Recent releases have included Beethoven's violin sonatas with Daniel Sepec performing on Beethoven's own instrument and Schwanengesang with Christoph Prégardien on CD and DVD. The story about the Goldbergs’ composition is worth retelling: Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, one of Bach's brightest pupils, was working for Count von Keyserlingk of Dresden, who suffered from insomnia. Goldberg sometimes played all night to soothe the count. Bach was asked to write ‘quiet’ and ‘somewhat cheerful’ music for this purpose and he responded to the challenge brilliantly. A saraband theme, taken from a collection that Bach made for his wife, Anna Magdalena, is treated in a novel way. Rather than concentrating on the melodic line, Bach strengthens the bass line and harmonic structure. The variations are grouped in threes, with the third of each group being a canon. The 30th variation, the ‘Quodlibet’ is a lively juxtaposition of two popular melodies of the time. A composer of lesser genius would soon have become monotonous in attempting 30 variations in D minor, Bach, on the contrary, gives us an extraordinary range of expression.
“blessedly unreverential Bach, ebullient and extrovert, but also introspective and expressively searching when required.” The Guardian