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Music : Bach - Goldberg Variations (1955) .
Rating: 
- Outstanding
Is it the done thing for a non-music-specialist to review classical (ok, baroque) music? I love music but have limited experience of the measures by which Bach performance is judged.
On the other hand, I do know that truly great music has to grab you in the guts as well as stimulate the grey matter.
I was put off Bach 10 years ago by an interminal piano recital (by a well-known pianist) that made the whole thing mechanical and tedious. But my slow re-education has brought me to realise how wonderful his music is: within the bounds of musical structure as he knew it he wrote such beautiful compositions with depth and character. You can either concentrate, like reading a book with the lights off, or float away conjuring myriad images inspired by the wonderful sounds.
But the catch is: the performer must get the most out of the piece, and this requires in most cases truly great technique and in all cases uncommon musical feeling. Glenn Gould has (had) these attributes. I cannot express how well he brings out all that this music should mean in these 1955 recordings (I understand the 1981 version is very different and much slower - I am going to rush out to buy it).
I think, considering all musical performances I have heard, that Glenn Gould is probably the greatest artist I've ever listened to.
May I mention that what turned me "on" to Bach was Pablo Casals's pre-War recordings of the 6 cello suites? An exponent of Bach in the same emotional mould as Glenn Gould, in my opinion.
Rating: - Just beautiful
Glenn Gould's first recording of the Goldberg Variations is fresh and vibrant. Apparently Bach wrote the music as a kind of extended lullaby, but I've never yet managed to sleep through any of this recording. (Gould's later recording, from 1981, is more soothing.)
On this disk there are also two fugues from the Well Tempered Clavier. I think of the E major fugue (BWV 878) as a kind of ultimate idea of fugue: if someone wants to know what a fugue is, this is what they need to hear. Gould takes the E major fugue rather quickly in his recording of the whole of the Well Tempered Clavier, but the recording on this disk is slow and clear and wonderfully resonant.
- OutstandingIs it the done thing for a non-music-specialist to review classical (ok, baroque) music? I love music but have limited experience of the measures by which Bach performance is judged.
On the other hand, I do know that truly great music has to grab you in the guts as well as stimulate the grey matter.
I was put off Bach 10 years ago by an interminal piano recital (by a well-known pianist) that made the whole thing mechanical and tedious. But my slow re-education has brought me to realise how wonderful his music is: within the bounds of musical structure as he knew it he wrote such beautiful compositions with depth and character. You can either concentrate, like reading a book with the lights off, or float away conjuring myriad images inspired by the wonderful sounds.
But the catch is: the performer must get the most out of the piece, and this requires in most cases truly great technique and in all cases uncommon musical feeling. Glenn Gould has (had) these attributes. I cannot express how well he brings out all that this music should mean in these 1955 recordings (I understand the 1981 version is very different and much slower - I am going to rush out to buy it).
I think, considering all musical performances I have heard, that Glenn Gould is probably the greatest artist I've ever listened to.
May I mention that what turned me "on" to Bach was Pablo Casals's pre-War recordings of the 6 cello suites? An exponent of Bach in the same emotional mould as Glenn Gould, in my opinion.
Rating:
- Just beautifulGlenn Gould's first recording of the Goldberg Variations is fresh and vibrant. Apparently Bach wrote the music as a kind of extended lullaby, but I've never yet managed to sleep through any of this recording. (Gould's later recording, from 1981, is more soothing.)
On this disk there are also two fugues from the Well Tempered Clavier. I think of the E major fugue (BWV 878) as a kind of ultimate idea of fugue: if someone wants to know what a fugue is, this is what they need to hear. Gould takes the E major fugue rather quickly in his recording of the whole of the Well Tempered Clavier, but the recording on this disk is slow and clear and wonderfully resonant.
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