Sarah MacDonald’s Goldbergs – The performance of a lifetime

“I have done a fair bit in my life so far. (No kidding, ed.) This is definitely the thing of which I am most proud.”

We at Regent Records are delighted to release Sarah MacDonald’s beautiful new recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, recorded in Ely Cathedral on the Cathedral’s own recent Steinway D. The Cathedral’s luminous and radiant acoustic adds a dimension not usually found in recordings on the piano.

The product of the Covid pandemic motivating Sarah to learn, perform and record this major work, it is accompanied by her written notes on each variation in the form of diarized entries, following her personal journey through the musical, medical, professional, and social challenges that occurred over time, as the lives of us all adapted in response to Covid-19.

The entries are personal, self-effacing, and include a healthy dose of humour, illustrated with examples of her talent as a keen amateur photographer.

The booklet can be read or downloaded here: https://shorturl.at/03QnL
Get the recording (CD, download, stream) here: https://smarturl.it/SMGV

Sarah is no stranger to Ely Cathedral. A Canadian-born UK-based organist, conductor, pianist, and composer, a Fellow and the Director of Music at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and Director of Ely Cathedral’s Girl Choristers, she tours extensively both as performer and conductor, and is renowned as a director of choral and organ courses. She has made over 35 commercial recordings, and her liturgical works (over 50 published titles) are performed regularly throughout the world. In 2022 she was appointed Organist to the University of Cambridge, and in 2023 was named President-Elect of The Royal College of Organists.

Her performance of the Goldbergs, initially composed for harpsichord or clavichord, enjoys a long history of performance on piano. Typically these occur in studio settings. On rare occasions they are performed live, mostly in concert halls. This performance in an ancient cathedral is a rare treat indeed. The cathedral space functions as the sustain pedal. Piano technician Marcel Kunkel expresses his own gratitude in these words:

“I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to do what I do in my day job, and within this job as a piano technician I am lucky enough to work with a lot of professional musicians. Working with all these talented people it is inevitable that sooner or later I find myself in a music recording scenario, of which over the years there have been a few. 

Some of these will be very memorable to me for various reasons be they good or bad, but either way I believe that when a musician plays from the heart, they lose all social masking and open up their true self to all. Let me add that Ely Cathedral at night with only four of us was absolutely magical!

And so when I see and hear Sarah MacDonald play, I don’t really see a director of music, a conductor, or a president-elect of the prestigious Royal College of Organists. I see an artist, an extremely talented musician who is truly passionate about her craft, and especially after observing recording one of her latest projects which has left me feeling immensely lucky and privileged to know her and to have been present during this session. 

I am by no means an expert on Bach, nor do I pretend to be, but as a passionate human being I was left in awe with what I witnessed. As I understand, recording this was a bit of a childhood dream.”

My own piano teacher at the Royal College of Music, the late John Barstow adored the J S Bach performances of the Canadian pianist, Glenn Gould. He saw him in public more than a few times. John would always tell me when I was going home for vacation to “tell Mr. Gould to come back to England and perform once again.” Well John, there’s another Canadian performer and she’s living in the UK.

Sarah’s Goldbergs are now on constant play throughout my home in the BC interior. Thank you Sarah for this most amazing performance and gift to the world.

Thanks to Gary Cole and Marcel Kunkel

#soloalbum #goldbergvariations #lockdownproject