The Gilmore International Keyboard Festival invited an eclectic group of twelve composers to write one variation each on the theme of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations. No one variation exceeds 4 minutes. The great pianist Gilbert Kalish then arranged the collection for its debut as a whole work, adding Bach's theme to the beginning and to the end, and inserting Bach's Variation 13 in the middle. However, Kalish clearly states it is up to the pianist to decide how to perform these works, whether as a whole or specific movement(s) only. Contributing composers include C. Curtis-Smith, Jennifer Higdon, Mischa Sarche Zupko, Stanley Walden, Bright Sheng, Derek Bermel, David Del Tredici, Fred Lerdahl, William Bolcom, Lukas Foss, Ralf Gothoni and Fred Hersch. 66 pages.