Let’s resume our journey through the “Goldberg Variations”, this time with the 2015 recording by Pieter-Jan Belder on a Ruckers copy by Titus Crijnen.

As Bach continues to explore different styles throughout the set, Variation 7 is constructed as a Gigue – the animated dance that traditionally closes instrumental suites. The dotted rhythm within each beat of the bar makes the Gigue adopt the form of the “canarie”, a dance that originated in Spain during the Renaissance. The heavy ornamentation, including frequent runs of 32nd notes, also hints at a somewhat slower tempo than the traditional Gigue.

Variation 8 is the first one explicitly set for two keyboards. It’s in 3/4, and uses a theme in sixteenths, often leaving out the last one of each bar. The theme gets inverted often and passed back and forth between the two voices, which move in very similar ranges. This makes it more comfortable to use two manuals.

As we know, every third variation is a strict canon, with the canonic voices moving at a larger and larger interval. Variation 9 is at the third, with the second voice entering one bar after the first one and a third lower. The meter is 4/4 and most performers play it at a slow tempo, which allows the interplay of the two upper parts and the busy, jumpy bass line to be better appreciated.