Glenn Gould: Best Of Bach

Glenn Gould (piano)

Bach, J S: Goldberg Variations, BWV988: excerpts (aria and variations I-VII; 1955 recording) Partita No. 1 in B flat major, BWV825 Chromatic Fantasia in D minor, BWV903a English Suite No. 2 in A minor, BWV807 Toccata in E minor, BWV914 Two-part Invention No. 1 in C major, BWV772 Three-part Invention (Sinfonia) No. 1 in C major, BWV787 Two-part Invention No. 8 in F major, BWV779 Three-part Invention (Sinfonia) No. 8 in F major, BWV794 Two-part Invention No. 11 in G minor, BWV782 Three-part Invention (Sinfonia) No. 11 in G minor, BWV797 French Overture in B minor, BWV831 French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV816: Allemande French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV816: Gavotte French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV816: Gigue Goldberg Variations, BWV988: Variation 30 1981 digital recording Goldberg Variations, BWV988: Aria 1981 digital recording Italian Concerto, BWV971 Aria Variata in A minor, BWV989 ‘alla Maniera Italiana' Keyboard Concerto in D minor (after Marcello), BWV974 The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (extracts) (Preludes and Fugues Nos. 1 & 5) The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2 (extracts) (Preludes and Fugues Nos. 14 & 17) Prelude & Fugue in B flat major on the name B-A-C-H, BWV898 The Art of Fugue, BWV1080: Contrapunctus VII a 4 per augmentationem et diminutionem Glenn Gould (organ) The Art of Fugue, BWV1080: Contrapunctus VIII Glenn Gould (organ) The Art of Fugue, BWV1080: Contrapunctus IX a 4 alla duodecima Glenn Gould (organ) Keyboard Concerto No. 5 in F minor, BWV1056 Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Golschmann Goldberg Variations, BWV988 (DVD - a film by Bruno Monsaingeon; 1981)

So much has been written about the sensation caused by Gould’s first studio recording of the Goldberg Variations in June 1955 that it is hardly necessary to repeat the story of this “birth of a legend” here. But even though it was this recording that laid the foundations for Gould’s international reputation as a Bach interpreter, its roots lie much further back. From the very outset his Bach had been as unconventional as it was distinctive – and so it remains, in spite of regular attempts to enthrone a “new Glenn Gould”. (Conversely, this has meant that every new recording of Bach’s keyboard works is judged by Gould’s standards.) His habit of slouching over the piano, the expansive gestures of his hands and arms, his stabbing nonlegato (almost always without the use of the sustaining pedal), his breathtaking polyphony and his often extreme tempi all result in a kind of pianism that seems to come from another planet, reminding us of Stefan George’s poem in Schoenberg’s Second String Quartet, “Entrückung” (Rapt Otherworldliness): “I breathe air from another planet.” [...] DVD: The Goldberg Variations (1981) directed by Bruno Monsaingeon Picture format: 4:3 NTSC; colour; DVD-5 Language: English (with subtitles in French and German)

Price: $20.98