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The Goldberg Variations - Glenn Gould Plays Bach (1981)

Glenn Gould

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Customer Reviews

Don't forget to turn off the fader! :)

Hey, Alex M., and others, go to your Prefs, and in the Playback tab you uncheck "crossfade." Then you won't have that irksome fading, where the last note of the Aria disappears! :) My dad was one of the engineers who remastered this recording for CD back in 82 (I think that was the year), and I know this recording by heart! I'm certainly glad to find it on iTunes, and it sounds very good, though I'm sure my dad might find fault with it somehow if he listened to it on his super-duper fancy speakers: I'm not sure what's lost in the iTunification of this recording (apparently things happen to the quality when the music is compressed for this kind of usage), but it sounds very good on my iPod and on my computer. I'm quite happy with it.

Beautiful performance, questionable recording

I cannot reproach Mr. Gould of any faults in his interpretation and performance; on the contrary they are beautifully fluid and seemingly effortless. But I find it abrasive the way the separate recordings abruptly fade near the end and sometimes almost overlap the beginning of the next. It's annoying, not to mention that it makes you wonder how he really ended them.

An important achievement of human kind

Created by God, inspired by God, or neither, the Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach demonstrate a simple idea – theme and variations – turned into a manifestation of what life from the human point of view includes, or perhaps in fact entails. The variations contain an (at least then) unprecedented palette of colors, moods and imagination. Some are light, almost like popular music, while others (especially #25) express the darkest and and most breathtaking seriousness. This makes any careful listener feel very humble, but never abandoned. Although I may be in a minority by relating any music to deeper existential questions, it is remarkable that music, any music, would be able to awaken such thoughts and juxtapositions. Glenn Gould's performance contains a retrospective symbolism of fate, as he both opened and closed his recording career for Columbia with this work. The 1955 version is a great recording as a standalone experience, but the 1981 recording is worth a million stars. Mr. Gould conveys the essence of Johann Sebastian Bach's music with true transparency while adding his stamp on it almost as strongly as a jazz musician would on a classic Broadway musical. Impossible? Sounds like an oxymoron? Whatever the case, Mr. Gould and Mr. Bach pull this off on a level which do not only advance the pride of music, but the pride of human life.

Biography

Born: September 25, 1932 in Canada

Genre: Classical

Years Active: '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s

The most renowned Canadian classical performer of the 20th century, pianist Glenn Gould remains one of the most fascinating and celebrated figures in all of music, the archetypal riddle wrapped inside an enigma wrapped inside a conundrum. A former child prodigy, his piano artistry was unparalleled, yet he often received less recognition as a virtuoso than as a troubled eccentric; a disconnected recluse notorious for such odd habits as wearing a wool topcoat in the dog days of summer, Gould was a...
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The Goldberg Variations - Glenn Gould Plays Bach (1981), Glenn Gould
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  • $9.99
  • Genres: Classical, Music
  • Released: Aug 30, 1982
  • ℗ 1982 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

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