For his first appearance under the naïve label, the Chinese pianist Tianqi Du majestically embraces a monument for keyboard, the Goldberg Variations.

His pianistic interpretation of Bach’s masterpiece affirms the principle of metamorphosis, always reinventing but never altering, emphasising all the resources of the instrument.

A compulsory piece for all keyboardists – and even other instrumentalists, if you count the many transcriptions they have undergone – the Goldberg Variations never sound the same.

The voice rendered here by Tianqi Du – a young pianist taught and admired in his home country of China before studying with Meng-Chieh Liu at Boston’s New England Conservatory and now with Nicolas Hodges – is that of a dear, benevolent friend who always stood close by while he was growing up: “My encounter with the Goldberg Variations was like a musical compass that showed me the way,” he confides. “Bach has been a friend, a mentor and a saviour in my hours of doubt and confusion.”