When Israeli pianist Yaara Tal and Andreas Groethuysen, her German piano- and life-partner, were asked whether they wished to prepare the famous Goldberg Variations of Johann Sebastian Bach in the version arranged for two pianos by Josef Rheinberger and Max Reger, they recoiled at first. But then they looked at the music – and made a real discovery.

Bach’s Goldberg Variations rank among the absolute pinnacles of music history. So it’s no surprise that Yaara Tal and Andreas Groethuysen reacted cautiously when they were invited to record a romantic arrangement of the work for two pianos. “We always had the greatest respect for this composition and its requirements,” explains Groethuysen, while Yaara Tal refers to her concerns that “the dignity of this piece could be tarnished or even distorted.” But when they began to take a closer look at the version arranged by the Catholic church musician Josef Rheinberger, which Max Reger later revised, they were quite amazed: “Rheinberger turns a Protestant work into a Catholic one,” says Yaara Tal as she explains the effect of this arrangement. “We are extremely excited,” Andreas Groethuysen likewise enthuses. “The Goldberg Variations are a godsend for any artist: in other words, the purest fulfillment!”

On 28 November Yaara Tal and Andreas Groethuysen will discuss the Goldberg Variations as arranged by Rheinberger and Reger in a lecture recital at the KKL Luzern, followed by a complete performance. Lucerne audiences will get the chance to encounter a duo that is as acclaimed for the joy of discovery it demonstrates as for thoughtful interpretations and the unparalleled coordination of their playing together. “Ideally, the two individuals playing in a duo achieve a new whole that is greater than the sum of the parts,” as Andreas Groethuysen says regarding the secret of their art. “And this is no contest but the highest form of merging together.”