Variation 4 a 1 Clav Variation 5 a 1 ovvero 2 Clav. Variation 6 a 1 Clav. Canone alla Seconda Variation 7 a 1 ovvero 2 Clav. Variation 8 a 2 Clav. Variation 9 a 1...
Bach: Goldberg Variations -
The set of variations which Bach wrote for the young virtuoso Goldberg to play to their ... more
patron, the Russian ambassador, were intended to be heard either in groups or one at a time. Hewitt's sensitive and intelligent performance is particularly notable for its tact and sense of decorum. The use of piano instead of harpsichord brings a forensic clarity and a plangent sense of the music's emotional content without importing an inappropriate level of drama to the proceedings. She is particularly eloquent in some of the slower variations, such as the intense and private No. 25, but is also highly effective in the sprightlier dance movements, such as No. 19. --Roz Kaveney
Bach: Goldberg Variations -
The American pianist Murray Perahia's new Sony recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations has ... more
such presence and immediacy that you will find yourself moved to listen to the entire 75-minute work without a break. Indeed, it would have been exceedingly rude not to, such is the power of this CD. The variations flow one to the other with hardly a break and no noticeable editing. The stream of ideas emanating from the initial haunting aria gathers momentum as the work progresses. Variation Five is the first thrilling lick. Variation Eight is a knuckle-knackering jig. Perahia hits the keys with such crispness that the bass strings twang like harpsichord notes. Variation 11 is the first fugue. Is it dry and dusty? No! It belts along like an arrogant student. Variation 14 is a test of hand crossing--you can hear the click of fingernails on keys. Variation 15 is minor for the first time, 16 is regal, 17 features bubbling thirds. Variation 21 temporarily halts the composer's exuberance with a sudden sombre lurch towards Luther like a guilty sinner repenting. The whole disc is a wonder from beginning to end and undoubtedly one of the finest tributes released in Bach Year 2000. --Rick Jones
executives desperate to find a way of shifting more classical records. But if you have come across the likes of Jacques Loussier you will know that it's all been going on for some while and for much higher minded reasons. All of 40 years ago Loussier identified that dour old Lutheran J S Bach was at heart something of a jazzer and he's been making a living on the back of it ever since. To celebrate the 250th anniversary of JSB's death, Loussier's dazzling trio returns to its favoured territory with this take on the Goldberg Variations, a series of double keyboard harpsichord pieces written in 1742. Neatly for jazz aficionados, the theme on which Bach so neatly elaborated turns out to be based on the same kind of 32 bar bass pattern that underpins so many of Tin Pan Alley's greatest, but this shouldn't be mistaken for a jazz album. Jazz fans will certainly groove, but it should hit a wider audience. Loussier has perhaps been here before, but he is still a peerless pianist, and drummer Andre Arpino confirms his status as one of the best. --Stewart Collins
Excerpt(s): 1. Aria 2. Variation I 3. Variation II 4. Variation III (Canone all'unisono) 5. Variation IV 6. Variation V 7. Variation VI (Canone alla seconda) 8. Variation VII 9. Variation VIII 10. Variation IX (Canone alla terza) 11. Variation X (Fughetta) 12. Variation XI 13. Variation XII (Canone alla quarta) 14. Variation XIII 15. Variation XIV 16. Variation XV (Canone alla Quinta in moto contrario) 17. Variation XVI (Ouverture) 18. Variation XVII 19. Variation XVIII (Canone alla sesta) 20. Variation XIX 21. Variation XX 22. Variation XXI (Canone alla settima) 23. Variation XXII 24. Variation XXIII 25. Variation XXIV (Canone all'ottava) 26. Variation XXV 27. Variation XXVI 28. Variation XXVII (Canone alla nona) 29. Variation XXVIII 30. Variation XXIX 31. Variation XXX (Quodlibet)
Advantages: Great piano playing of a great Bach composition. Disadvantages: None
...One of Gould's final recordings, this is probably the definitive piano version of Bach's keyboard masterpiece. Gould runs the theme & thirty variations as a unified whole. His playing is characterised by clear fast passages, crisp ornaments and controlled, intense playing of the slow variations (nos.15 & 26). Even his humming along to the music does not detract from a joyous performance. The final section from variation 27 to the slow return to the theme is pianism at its most uplifting.
The piano sound is clear without being dry & compares favourably with most up to date piano recordings. This is a disc to convert anyone to Bach & indeed to Gould's pianistic genius....
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Advantages: Elegant, refreshingly stimulating, articulate Goldberg Variations. Disadvantages: (For US residents) Import CD from British Hyperion label costs more than the average.
...Elegant, refreshingly stimulating, with an amazing clarity and articulation--these words might sum up Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt's cerebral yet sensitive rendition of Johann Sebastian Bach's GoldbergVariations. Hewitt has been described as the new interpreter of Bach, "nothing less than the pianist who will define Bach performance on the piano for years to come," Stereophile declared in 1998.
I don't doubt that at all. And I blame the US National Public Radio for sparking a curiosity about Hewitt. A morning program on NPR featured her piano transcriptions of popular Bach tunes in late ‘01. I liked--very much--what I heard. There was no question a Bach recording of hers was going to be joining fellow Bach CDs in my library.
Compared to the widely praised and honored Murray Perahia disc from the year before, Hewitt's Goldbergs...
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Advantages: Reassures and comforts me! Disadvantages: Taste, might not work for everyone
...♣Doubting the miracle♣
It was around this time last year that my airplane phobia increased to an intolerable level. We were visiting my boyfriend?s family for Christmas ? and I simply could not face the plane journey back. His mother kindly told me that I needed to ?snap out of it? and handed me a little yellow box with Bach?s Rescue Remedy. I eyed it suspiciously. I never believed in such herbal miracles. But I took the box and sitting at the airport, I remember taking quite a bit of this product to calm my nerves. I honestly do not remember if it worked at the time, but I did make it back home somehow ? didn?t I? The bottle then disappeared in a draw, not to be remembered until ?
? I next encountered the Rescue Remedy when I left my somewhat quiet job for a hectic city job. A colleague handed me a leaving present in...
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very helpful 19.12.2004
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