Customer Reviews

Bach: Keyboard Concertos, Vol. 2

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

No better piano performer of J.S. Bach is known to me. Glenn Gould was a true genius. I own his entire anniversary edition series, all the CD's are fantastic.

I enjoy Gould's performances of the Bach concertos, but I wouldn't give them "reference recording" status. I tend to prefer the harpsichord and gut strings in this repertory (Egarr's recent Harmonia Mundi set, Leonhardt on an old Teldec set, and especially, Pinnock on Universal). I've also gotten a great deal of enjoyment from Perahia's traversal (also on Sony) which offers much better sound than these forty something year old recordings. Gould's pointillistic approach to Bach is much in evidence - a mite choppy in phrasing at times, but always interesting. Tempi are lively and the Siciliano of the E major concerto makes a very strong impression as a result. It can sometimes tend to drag.

The usual obligato humming from Mr. Gould is very present but is less distracting here than in some of his recordings of the solo works. The piano sound is bright and forward. The recorded sound shows its age in the wiry sound of the string tuttis and considerable tape hiss. The disc and its companion provide a good performance on the modern concert grand of these important works, but as a supplement to a good harpsichord version. The concerto for keyboard and two obbligato flutes (a re-working of the Fourth Brandenburg Concerto) is missing.

Glenn Gould has a special way of expressing Bach. He plays Bach like nothing from the Baroque time period. Not everyone likes his way of expressing but his way will certainly amaze you.

The music itself is fine, but the sound quality is just terrible. If that's important to you, you should get another set of these concertos.