Thibaut Garcia and Antoine Morinière Release New Album “Goldberg Variations”

Today, on October 31, 2025, the new album Goldberg Variations by guitarist Thibaut Garcia, in collaboration with Antoine Morinière, is released on Erato/Warner Classics.

At the center of the project stands Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, which Garcia and Morinière have arranged for two guitars. In this version, the two French musicians combine elements of modern and historically informed performance practice, offering a fresh perspective on this Baroque masterpiece.

“Baroque music written for keyboard instruments has always fascinated us,” said Thibaut Garcia, who first attracted attention in 2018 with his album Bach Inspirations. He has performed as a duo with Antoine Morinière for over a decade. Their two guitars were crafted from the wood of a single tree—a symbol of the sonic unity that defines their interpretation.

The recording was the result of a long period of preparation. Garcia and Morinière studied the Goldberg Variations at the Abbey of Solesmes, where, following the Benedictine tradition, they worked in silence. This meditative atmosphere shapes the character of their performance, in which the two guitars intertwine like the two hands of a harpsichordist.

The booklet includes a foreword by writer Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt, who emphasizes the spiritual and cyclical dimensions of Bach’s music:
“Even though the Goldberg Variations are not liturgical music, they remain a sermon—just as valid as the spoken word, if not even more powerful.”