Goldberg Variations: Gould (1981)

This selection is available in both standard CD and Super Audio CD formats.
After attending a concert he had declined to conduct because of the pianist's eccentricities, George Szell said of Glen Gould, "that nut is a genius." Few recorded debuts have had the impact of Gould's 1955 recording of the 'Goldberg Variations,' which pretty much redefined Bach keyboard performance. That performance, which has never been out of print, was joined in 1982 by this digital remake shortly before Gould's untimely death. The work accidentally framed his entire career. The two performances are sufficiently different that admirers should have both.
By 1982 the romantic impetus behind Gould's playing was much more obvious. The performance is more expansive, introducing about a dozen first half repeats as well as a broader range of tempos, both fast and slow, with Gould's tendency to swoon at slow speeds much in evidence. At the same time, by using an incredibly wide range of staccato to legato playing, his complete control of articulation allows him to vary the color of the piano in a brilliant rethinking of the stops available on a harpsichord. Purist Bach this is not, but as the work of a recreative genius, in service to music he loved, this is not a recording to be missed.