Goldberg

Pianist Daniel-Ben Pienaar came from South Africa and was largely trained there. Very well equipped technically, he has a gift for unorthodox interpretations that he seems to have thought out on his own and to have developed the technical tools to execute. His thoroughly pianistic version of Bach's Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, will appeal to those who like Glenn Gould's versions, especially the earlier one. In the beginning, in fact, Pienaar seems to be offering a sort of updated Gould reading, without the humming.

J.S. Bach - Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 - Ji (2018) {Parlophone-Warner 0190295719371 Official Digital Download}
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© 2018 Parlophone Records / Warner Music | 0190295719371
Classical / Baroque / Piano

The young pianist who blew everyone away at the GRAMMYs recorded Bach's Goldberg Variations as label debut. The Korean-born, US-trained pianist known simply as Ji is very much a classical musician for the 21st century. Having won the New York Philharmonic’s Young Artists Competition at the age of just 10, he went on to study at the prestigious Juilliard School. Described by the Chicago Tribune as “a gifted, sensitive young pianist who is clearly going places,” he has chosen Bach’s sublime Goldberg Variations for his debut on Warner Classics. “Classical music is never going away,” he says, “We live in very modern world, and it’s our job to live in the moment, but it’s also our job to respect and preserve tradition.”

Blandine Verlet, the noted French harpsichordist, studied with Ruggiero Gerlin and Ralph Kirkpatrick. She began recording in the late 1970s for Philips, switching to the Astree label in the 1990s. Her recordings range from J.S. Bach's keyboard works to Froberger to lesser known composers such as Louis Couperin and Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre. This, her second recording of the Goldbergs, has been called "one of the finest harpsichord versions in the catalogue.

While one might reasonably prefer this, that or the other recording of Bach's "Goldberg" Variations, one should still take the time to listen to this 1997 recording of the work played on the harpsichord by Masaaki Suzuki on BIS. For one thing, Suzuki is the conductor of BIS' series of Bach Cantata recordings and it is interesting to hear what he can do on his own without other musicians as intermediaries.

Among the great cycles of keyboard works by Johann Sebastian Bach, the Goldberg Variations are undoubtedly those which most immediately bring us into the richness of his universe. An unequaled science of counterpoint (what a tour de force are these canons which punctuate the work!), a breathtaking virtuosity using the two keyboards of the harpsichord like never before, a journey which takes us from the desperate depths of the human soul to its transcendent heights, this is what this recording invites you to experience. All this made eminently accessible by the disarming beauty of an initial Aria which we find, transformed by the path of thirty variations, at the end of this cycle - one of the summits in the history of music.

For the 15th anniversary of Ensemble Diderot, and after forays into concertos and chamber music using larger forces, Johannes Pramsohler and his colleagues go back to the roots with a recording of their core repertoire: trio sonatas. Highly inventive works by Bach pupils Johann Gottlieb Goldberg and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach make for a programme in which the Diderots show their art with their trademark stylish and agile playing.

The Goldberg Variations are the most complex of J. S. Bach’s works from a technical point of view. All the harpsichord’s technical and expressive resources are thoroughly explored and used to great effect. The complexity, imagination, richness of ideas and internal references that animate this work make it a monumental piece of immeasurable depth. The instrument that Roberto Loreggian plays for this recording is a copy of a harpsichord made by Michael Mietke in the early years of the 18th century; exchanges between the maker and Bach are historically documented. Consequently, Loreggian is able to fully convey the complexity of this legendary work. An outstanding scholar in organ and harpsichord performance, Loreggian has appeared at some of the most important international music venues and at renowned festivals. Both as soloist and accompanist, he has collaborated with numerous performers and orchestras, recording his performances on several music labels and receiving praise from music critics, in addition to several awards.