Blackboard scribblings from Einstein & others

From "Bye-bye blackboard ... from Einstein and others," an exhibit at the Museum of the HIstory of Science in Oxford.

‘I wrote the music on this blackboard while I was giving a lecture about Bach’s Goldberg Variations at the Holywell Music Room on 22nd March this year, before performing them. I was trying to make a connection between Bach’s super-sensitivity to the contemporary styles around him – very very acute in this piece – and today’s musicians. There’s a lot of information in the Goldbergs – structure, harmony, a ladder of canons – and coded information we can only guess at – myths, cosmological allegories, and a soulful journey. It all starts with the bass line.’

Joanna MacGregor

Pianist

Unfortunately, MacGregor, who is a sort of Brian Eno of the British classical scene (indeed; she has collaborated with him), has not recorded the Goldberg Variations -- though she does have a nice recording of Bach's French Suites.

The blackboard exhibit is definitely worth a visit, as is the larger Museum of the History of Science website, which I hope to revisit here (and visit in person as well).