GG: Goldberg Variations editions

[Bradley P Lehman <bpl@umich.edu>]

Eugene Tretyakov <euge7@hotmail.com> asked:

> Could you, please, help me to find Bach's Goldberg variations music for 
> piano, Aria's music in particular?  I've been trying to find it for a 
> long time.  

An especially good edition including the latest research is the "Neue Bach
Ausgabe"  edition published by Barenreiter (see
http://www.barenreiter.com).  The NBA is a complete scholarly edition of
Bach's works, and the publication work is still in progress for some of
the volumes.  It is also laid out very well as a playing edition: clear
uncluttered text, well-placed page turns, no extraneous fingering
suggestions.  Most good university music libraries will have this edition
on the shelves, and probably also the Bach-Gesellschaft. 

A good second choice is the Urtext version published by Henle (see
http://www.henle.de).  The Goldberg Variations volume was done in (I
think) the 1960's or early 1970's.  It is a good playing edition, except
that the fingering suggestions are designed for pianists rather than
harpsichordists.  Some of the Henle volumes of the Bach works are
available without fingerings. 

Retail price for the Goldberg Variations is 17 DM for either of the above
editions...that's a lower price than I expected to see when I looked it
up.  They should be easy to order from any good music store, because those
two publishers are distributed well around the world.  Also, both those
web sites allow direct orders. 

Another decent choice would be the Dover reprint from the
"Bach-Gesellschaft" edition.  This was a 19th-century publication of all
of Bach's works.  For its time it was done very well, and is mostly
reliable for some pieces.  Dover has been republishing many of the volumes
at a very low price.  These are easy to get, again through music stores or
through some of the larger bookstores.  The Goldberg Variations are
included in a collection with other keyboard works of Bach.

Note also that the Goldberg Variations are among the few pieces that Bach
published himself (therefore, the source situation is less complicated
than with many other works).  A facsimile version of that is available;
sorry, I don't have the details.  A friend of mine in graduate school did
a comparative project with it, looking at that edition against the NBA. 
He then decided to learn the piece from the facsimile rather than from a
more modern edition, because in some ways it was easier to read and gave
(perhaps) a clearer indication of Bach's intentions. 

I learned it in 1984-5 from a badly edited edition (an old Kalmus--many
interpretive markings which should be ignored), so should probably relearn
it from a better one sometime.  My project was to play the piece on Bach's
300th birthday; at the college where I attended we had a festival of Bach
performances all day to celebrate it.  I played it in concerts several
other times in the next few years, too.

I remember that the 1938 Ralph Kirkpatrick edition (which GG used) was
also quite good.  My teacher showed me her copy, and I found some of
Kirkpatrick's suggestions helpful.  Bazzana points out (p.174-5)  the
influence of this edition on GG's interpretations.  Its publisher,
Schirmer, currently lists it at US$8.95.  (See
http://www.schirmer.com/S/keyboard/pf_b.htm) 

If you want only the Aria, it is interesting to try the earlier version
that is in the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (many editions). 

Good luck!

Bradley Lehman ~ Harrisonburg VA, USA ~ 38.45716N+78.94565W
bpl@umich.edu ~ http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/ 

"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music 
and cats." - Albert Schweitzer