Jean Rondeau & Tancrède Kummer – UNDR

What happens when you take Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations apart and build something entirely new from their foundations? In UNDR, harpsichord superstar Jean Rondeau – exceptionally performing here at the piano – joins percussionist Tancrède Kummer for a radical encounter with one of the most iconic works in music history.

 

The architecture of the Goldberg Variations becomes the framework for a roughly 100-minute journey between composition and improvisation, Baroque, jazz and contemporary music. Rather than arranging or reinterpreting Bach, Rondeau and Kummer enter into the structures of the original, pull them apart and use their musical material as a starting point for entirely new directions.

 

UNDR – Icelandic for “miracle” – is conceived as an open, ever-changing work. Piano and percussion listen, respond and challenge one another, moving between the familiar and the unexpected. Bach’s music remains present throughout, but never stands still: fragments emerge, disappear and return in new forms, transforming a centuries-old masterpiece into an immediate and constantly evolving musical experience.

 

Here you can find a teaser for UNDR.