symmetry disorders reach

A video documentaion of two pieces from Alexander Goehr's 'Symmetry Disorders Reach' (2002) for piano:
'Air' [based on an G.F. Handel's 'Air' from 3rd Suite in D minor]
and 'Little Harmonic Labyrinth' [based on J.S. Bach’s ‘Kleine Harmonische Labyrinthe’

[Alexander Goehr describes his compositional technique as modelling / modeling new pieces on pre-existing material]

My choice of the particular pieces was inspired by the following observation, and it is the exact reason why Goehr chose this specific piece by Handel as his model (see picture):

"When Handel supervised the publication of this piece (it was printed by Walsh in London in 1720) rather unusually he had it set in two sizes of musical print: the larger for the basic harmonic structure and the smaller for his decorated version. Technically we call this a diminution. The two sizes of print gave me the idea that it was possible to rework a piece, retaining some elements of the original and substituting others by my own inventions. [...] The aim in the music is to achieve a kind of effect of transparency. One preserves the gestures of the old ‘through’ the new music. The idea has something in common with the way in which painters – Poussin, Manet, Picasso – reworked classical paintings of their predecessors, making something quite new but in various ways allowing the old to show through. Though this kind of working of painterly or musical material seems to constitute a special case, I believe it tells us something about how music has always and will continue to function for the listener." [A. Goehr, ‘...second musical offering (GFH 2001)]

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, February 2013
Carmen Zografou, filming