"Which Goldberg Variations?" redux

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

Andrew Rowe wrote:
>I recently had a bust-up with my piano teacher, with regard to my
>interpretation of the Goldberg Variations: "It's too 'Glenn Gouldian' "
>he said, "far too mechanical."  Before now, I had never expressed my
>adoration for Gould's work. He admitted that perhaps the 1955 recording
>was better.
>
>What do you think?


I think Gould's 1955 recording has a better performance than the 1981, and
the 1959 live performance (Salzburg) is better than both of them.  The
1954 is worth hearing, too, but an "also-ran."

This "Which Goldbergs?" question comes up here regularly, and it's
interesting to see the opinions and discussion that come up as the
membership changes.  I've assembled a collection of my own postings here,
going back into the f_minor archives.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/gg-bach.htm

Most notably that includes a detailed 1997 survey of all four of Gould's
recordings, and another recent posting where I compared them against some
other piano recordings.


Bradley Lehman, Dayton VA
home: http://i.am/bpl  or  http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl
CD's: http://listen.to/bpl or http://www.mp3.com/bpl

"Music must cause fire to flare up from the spirit - and not only sparks
from the clavier...." - Alfred Cortot