![]() New technology and a desire to re-examine the work led him back to the recording studio. Gould chose to rerecord the “Goldberg Variations” in 1981 with CBS Masterworks, 27 years after his first recording. Gould presented all these contrapuntal details with surprising clarity through his superior technique, passion, and vigor. A piece of the score of the aria in “The Goldberg Variations.” (Public Domain) The last variation is a quodlibet, a combination of two popular songs in counterpoint that incorporates different musical lines in a composition, underneath the principal theme. Each variation continues to follow this bass line with a harmonic progression, increasing the interval between the melodic lines. The theme underlies the aria in the bass line, which was unusual for Baroque music. The album gained attention for the artist’s incredibly precise performance and his unique method, incorporating a finger technique that would provide a very clear articulation, even at high speed and little sustaining pedal.Īn incredibly technical work first published in 1741, the “Variations” consists of 32 movements: one aria (a solo instrumental piece, the theme of a larger work), 30 variations, and an Aria Da Capo (an aria that concludes the piece as it returns to the initial aria). His record sold over 100,000 copies in his lifetime, becoming one of the most well-known piano recordings ever. The figure is shown holding holding the manuscript to BWV 1076, which is also the thirteenth canon in the Goldberg Canon cycle. Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach, 1746, by Elias Gotlob Houssmann. The people at Columbia tried to dissuade Gould, but he had already decided. He chose to record the “Goldberg Variations,” an obscure work then, judged impossible even by Bach scholar, Albert Schweitzer. In June 1955, the Canadian pianist, only 22, recorded his debut album at Columbia Records 30th Street studio in Manhattan, New York, in only four days. Then, he would play, hunched over his piano, often altering the tempo of pieces and humming along, as was the case with the “Goldberg Variations.” Wherever he would play, he would bring his battered chair, and warm his hands in a hot water basin before he performed. No matter what the weather, he wore an overcoat and gloves. Referred to as a genius by the press, Gould perfectly fit the eccentric genius character with his reclusive personality and habits. The battered chair of pianist Glenn Gould, which he carried with him to perform. No one could have predicted that his two recordings of Bach’s notoriously difficult work, almost 30 years apart, would not only make him internationally famous, but also change the scope of classical music forever. Bach’s “Goldberg Variations,” it is impossible not to think of Glenn Gould’s interpretations. From the first notes you hear of any performance of J.S. ![]()
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