Hey, Community gang, I’m working up a new Community-driven playlist for next month with a companion blog. I’m always so impressed with your passionate music posts, and I thought it’d be fun to ask your thoughts on some of the prominent artists and selections I’ll feature. So then…drumroll
All submissions are welcome: subjective soliloquies, impassioned impressions, obsessive odes, feverish free-form fusillades, scintillating scholarly shoutouts, academic asides, expert essays, first experiences from your personal music journeys — it’s your thing, do whatcha wanna do. I’ll run them; there are no wrong answers.
Post here in the thread, or feel free to message me at @jamie. Please note that sharing means you’re okay with us publishing your wonderful music comments on our blog, etc.
BWV 988 is one of the great works of the keyboard repertoire; it’s music I come back to time and time again. Like all Bach, it has a lot of fixed structure, yet it is highly expressive, and I find it perfect for letting my mind get lost in the music.
Among the versions I enjoy are those by Glenn Gould, Maria Tipo, Andrew Rangell, Robert Hill, Jory Vinikour, and Michael Kiener. Some listeners are crazy about Gould, and although I enjoy his performances, they are not my favorites. Still, Gould was a huge figure and ranks with Pablo Casals in helping bring JSB into the modern repertoire.
I can do without ever hearing transcriptions for (e.g.) string quartet and such. I’ve listened to one or two and got rid of them quickly.
It is puzzling to hear claims that some keyboardist has recorded the “best” version of this work. I don’t think “best” makes sense here. The music has too much life in it to be bound to a single interpretation.
What can you say ,its one of the greatest pieces in the classical repertoire , unfortunately used for other reasons to the point of spoiling because it is so well known.
“an intellectual is some one who can listen the Overture to William Tell and NOT think of the Lone Ranger”
For me the Goldberg image is Hannibal , dining !!
Bit like Dvorak’s 9th is a little boy bringing a loaf home !!
That said it’s still a staple in my listening, my current favourite is Beatrice Rana on piano and Christophe Rousset on harpsichord. I don’t see what all the fuss is around Gould in either incarnation, he is just odd .
I have quite a few versions for keyboard, my favourite of which is probably Beatrice Rana, but the two albums that I play most often are both transcriptions.
Rachel Podger’s version is described by Chad Kelly, who arranged it, as follows:
" The arrangement attempts to be idiomatic to the historical instruments used in its performance and to the individual styles and genres referenced in the work, whilst remaining true to the essence of the piece. At times it has required a liberal reading of the original text, prioritising an authenticity to the instruments performing the music over the notes on the page."
The version by Trio d’Iroise and SYRIAB, on the other hand, is quite different. Described in a review (I’ve lost the source) as “a fascinating disc as two ensembles, one Western classical and one Arabic, journey through Bach’s Goldberg Variations exploring what it means to play together, to base music on Bach yet synthesise with Arabic music.” At the moment, of all the versions I have, this is my current favourite.
I am by no means an expert, but I’m not sure we can discuss these works without reference to Glenn Gould, and Andras Schiff, whose recordings should be mandatory listening, even if you prefer others.
as performance, and sound, I could live with Schiff, and Schiff alone.
incidentally, this recording seems to have been re-released by Decca. AFAIK, it’s the same performance, or at least, Roon seems to think so.
Amond many, many others, I also like Murray Perahia, but I would listen to him play most anything.
An “interesting” alternative might be the Zenph Studios re-recording of Gould’s Goldberg Variations. Basically, it is Gould’s rendition minus his humming and singing. Incredible dexterity and speed, less sure about musicality.
