Bach's Goldberg Variations for solo harpsichord is one of the most monumental of all keyboard works. According to Johann Nikolaus Forkel, the "Aria with Diverse Variations", as Bach titled it, was written for the prodigious young harpsichordist Johann Theophilus Goldberg, who studied with Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and later with Johann Sebastian, in order that he might offer some cheerful solace to Count Keyserlingk, the Russian ambassador appointed by Catherine the Great to the court of Dresden, during his frequent sleepless nights. Keyboardist Hans-Jürgen Schnoor, formerly cantor and organist at the St. Jakobi Church in Lübeck, teaches at the Lübeck Conservatory of Music and has performed the maginficent Goldberg Variations over 100 times. Please see 2002 Washington Post review.

  Special guest viola da gambist Margriet Tindemans. Telemann and CPE Bach alone give resonance aplenty to Hamburg as an important musical center. Already during the previous century in 1660, organist Matthias Weckmann and music director Christian(?) Bernhard, both students of Schutz, founded the Collegium Musicum or Abendmusik in the refectory at the Jacobikirche, Hamburg's cathedral, featuring contemporary music of the time. Telemann wrote several unusual works for flute and two viola da gambas.