When did you first became aware of Bach’s Goldberg Variations?

I remember listening to the Goldbergs on the radio with ABC Classic FM, while I was discovering the entire world of wonders that is classical music as a teenager. Armed with my mailed copy of 24 Hours, I programmed my cassette recorder to record all these amazing works that ABC Classic FM was broadcasting, sometimes at 2am.

Erin Helyard. Photo @ MSO

I must have been around 12 when I first heard the Goldbergs on harpsichord. I never knew them on piano; I know that many people came to the Goldbergs through Gould but I was very much interested in the sounds of the harpsichord at the time, so I sought out the recordings. It was Kenneth Gilbert’s 1986 recording that I first remember the most (I was delighted to meet him in Montréal when I lived there).

I think I was smart enough to understand the significance of the work in my teens, but I have since come to revere it as one of Bach’s...