Music CD - Johann Sebastian Bach, Murray Perahia: Bach: Goldberg Variations

	Music CD: Bach: Goldberg Variations Artist: Johann Sebastian Bach, Murray Perahia List Price: $13.98 Our Price: $7.79 Your Save: $ 6.19 ( 44% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Sony
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Tracks: 1. Aria 2. Var 1 3. Var 2 4. Var 3: Canon On The Unison 5. Var 4 6. Var 5 7. Var 6: Canon On The Second 8. Var 7 9. Var 8 10. Var 9: Canon On The Third 11. Var 10: Fughetta 12. Var 11 13. Var 12: Canon On The Fourth 14. Var 13 15. Var 14 16. Var 15: Canon On The Fifth 17. Var 16: Ov 18. Var 17 19. Var 18: Canon On The Sixth 20. Var 19 21. Var 20 22. Var 21: Canon On The Seventh 23. Var 22 24. Var 23 25. Var 24: Canon On The Octave 26. Var 25 27. Var 26 28. Var 27: Canon On The Ninth 29. Var 28 30. Var 29 31. Var 30: Quodlibet 32. Aria Da Capo
Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0696998924321 Label: Sony Manufacturer: Sony Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Sony Release Date: 2000-10-03 Studio: Sony
Related Items Bach: English Suites Nos. 2, 4 & 5 / Perahia Bach: Keyboard Concertos Nos. 3, 5, 6, 7 Bach: English Suites Nos. 1, 3 & 6 Handel/Scarlatti: Murray Perahia Plays Handel & Scarlatti Bach: Keyboard Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 4
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Perahia at his best Comment: This is one of the most beautiful performances of the Goldberg Variations ever. Perahia allows the listener to hear the music anew, offers a definitive interpretation, but always gives prominence to Bach. For me this is a much more satisfying performance than Gould's, which amazingly still has its cult devotees. Gould's Goldberg is about Gould, not about Bach. Perahia's Goldberg is about Music. Customer Rating: Summary: A Masterpiece! Comment: This CD captures the soul of Bach's Goldberg Variations like nothing else I have heard. If you are searching for music that will make your heart, soul and mind evolve to a new level of music appreciation, you simply must purchase this CD. After listening to Murray Perahia play the Bach's Goldberg Variations I will purchase anything he has recorded. Customer Rating: Summary: Perahia's Goldberg Variations Comment: I know it isn't a very solid objection to harpsichord versions of the Goldberg Variations to say that the tinkle-jangle of that instrument, after a bit, gets on one's nerves. But so it is with me, so I turned to some of the best-known piano performances to see which suited me best. I compared Rosalyn Tureck's, both of Glenn Gould's and Murray Perahia's, and was somewhat surprised to find myself come down so decidedly in favor of this last. Perahia's, I think, is the most human Bach. Tureck has been called the "high-priestess" of Bach--and I don't think that is entirely a compliment. Her 'Goldberg' seems indeed that of a priestess or prophetess searching for something divinely revelatory in the work; she approaches it in a state of awed reverence, and lingers over each note until she feels it has fully ripened in sacred significance. Needless to say, all repeats, representing the functional equivalent of Divine Will (that is to say, Bach's instructions), are faithfully, piously, observed. So this is a very slow, and, I felt, after awhile, somewhat monotonous 'Goldberg.' I can appreciate that reverence often enlarges the soul, and I genuinely miss the note of awe in everyday American life--so it's not as though there is nothing at all to recommend Tureck's interpretation. But in reaching so desperately for the spiritual, she necessarily sacrifices something human. Gould, too, isn't really interested in a purely human Bach. He sees in him rather a manifestation of cool geometrical or gemlike purity. Even when he slows down in the 1981 version, he keeps the slightly mechanical touch--this is what the "Glossy misreading" review above so loudly endorses. This, too, is a plausible interpretation: I think every listener recognizes and responds to this otherworldly purity of Bach, and in Gould's case it combines neatly with virtuosic showmanship. And, after all, the variations were intended originally for the dynamically-challenged harpsichord. But the Perahia 'Goldberg' makes clear what Gould ignores--once again, the Bach acquainted with and interested in conveying human dispositions and emotions. He interprets, for example, variation 25 as evoking the kind of suffering belonging to the Crucifixion, 26 as a response to the Resurrection, 27 as bitter mockery. Given Bach's profession and predilection it hardly seems unlikely that he would wish to be understood as capturing not just mathematical ideas but genuinely human responses. So many of the variations, too, are in dance forms, and Perahia is the only one of the three to allow anything plausibly dancelike to appear in them. In short, Perahia's Variations contain the greatest variety, the most humane elegance; he lets them breathe, makes them live. Customer Rating: Summary: Perahia - Goldberg Var. Comment: For those who find the Glenn Gould version a bit dry, (recording and/or performance), the Perahia version is excellent, precise, but with heart. Also the Gould version is recorded all on one track, making a problem with those of us who like our MP3's and volume levelers. The Goldberg Variations have been a favorite of mine for many years. I was introduced to them with a Wilhelm Kemph (sp?) record which was perhaps a bit romantic. I think Perahia's version strikes the right balance between precision, clairity of interweaving line and melodic experience. I understand they are enormusly difficult, originally written for a harpsichord with two keyboards so that hands could cross without running in to each other. Perahia is flawless. A great buy! Customer Rating: Summary: Sublime - a worthy replacement for Gould Comment: Murray Perahia takes the Goldberg Variations to new heights here, to my mind/ear even more thoughtfully, sensitively and musically than Gould, Schiff & Hewitt (yes, pretty difficult, but that's what I think is achieved here). Here we have a supreme Goldberg interpretation, stunningly recorded. Perahia is simply so good, I can't imagine ever listening again to Gould's sing-a-along versions, exciting as they are. Perahia is more exciting still, where necessary. Don't hesitate to add this version to your collection - it surpasses expectations, even for magical Murray! More Reviews
Editorial Reviews: Thanks to the Bach anniversary year, we've enjoyed a bonanza of interpretations of the master. One of the most honestly compelling--Murray Perahia's account of the Goldberg Variations--uniquely underscored the fundamental subtext behind all the celebration: the wondrous inexhaustibility of Bach's creative imagination. Perahia has come to a new understanding of Bach in the full prime of his career, and his first recording of this monument communicates the wealth of his insights with color, depth, and subtly charged poetry. --Thomas May