Decker: Goldberg Variations Revisited

George De Decker wrote the aria WIT IN WIT (White in White) on commission for the piano recital of November 14, 2017 in the Witte Zaal in deSingel (Antwerp, Belgium). After the performance by pianist Geert Callaert the relationship with the aria of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations became clear. Bach’s Goldberg Variations are canon, every pianist relates to this piece at one time or another. De Decker has listened to a myriad of versions and arrangements, his ear a knife, in every variation cutting in, looking for the core. What is the essence? The key and character of the original composition were preserved, and the redundant skinned until, in every variation, only the sound skeleton remained. The result is a new composition for piano solo and audiotape, but essentially WIT IN WIT is a landscape, a fragile relief of tone, sound and silence. A note that resounds so long that it stretches into a panorama.