Customer Reviews

Bach: The Two and Three Part Inventions

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

 

 

Although the miniature Inventions and Sinfonias aren't the colossal technical masterworks of other Bach pieces like The Art of Fugue and the Goldberg Variations, they're just as emotional and thoughtful in their own way (you wouldn't criticize a sonnet for not having the narrative sweep of an epic poem). As always, Gould has great clarity and breathtaking virtuosity. But on this particular album, it has a musicality and charm that I sometimes find lacking in his other recordings; he seems to be having a great time performing these pieces. The extra material provides some interesting rethinking of three of the sinfonias, and the outtakes allow you to hear how Gould put them together

A great recording that is both emotionally and intellectually satisfying.

Great recording. I'm not going to review Gould's playing here.

Amazon's editorial copy states "Perhaps best of all, the remastered sound is much better than that on previous issues of the disc". The "Glenn Gould Edition" from 1992 touted "High Definition Remastering", with Sony's patented "Super Bit Mapping" system. The implication was that all those craptacular late-1980s CD rushed to the market simply to fill the retail racks were a thing of the past, and Sony was doing it right--doing it, well...Super!!

Sigh...since that supposedly definitive "Glenn Gould Edition(TM)" of 1992, there's been the "70th Anniversary Edition" and a new "Sony Masterworks Edition". Always with the promise of better sound than the last time you ponied up for the same recording. I wish instead of touting basically meaningless jargon like "High Definition Remastering", CDs would come with disclaimers like "Engineer Joe Smith bumped up the upper-mid range frequencies to make the recording sound warmer, and added a touch of reverb as well", or "Engineer Mary Johnson stripped away all previous post-production effects and mastered this CD with completely neutral equalization, as her preference is for a dry, clean sound". That's what remastering comes down to--personal preferences by audio engineers as to how to equalize a given tape. It's not an objective science, something that is always improving as more digital bits become available in the equipment (mastering equipment hasn't improved at the breakneck pace that, say, laptop computers have over the last two decades).

This reissue may well sound better than the 1992 Glenn Gould edition. Or it might just sound different. I sure wish Sony (and all the major labels) would play it straight and simply tell people what the differences are, if they expect people to buy the same CD in three or four different editions.

Edit: In the case of the 1955 Goldberg variations, I prefer the sound of the earlier Glenn Gould Edition release to the recent 3-CD package that includes both of Gould's versions [though the 1981 'Goldberg Variations' did need to be remastered using the analog backup tape, and at least there Sony gave a clear description of the problem and rational for a reissue]. For the 1955 version, the earlier edition just sounds clearer and less tampered with, while the recent release sounds more distant and the notes less defined.

As I stated in my review of Kenneth Gilbert's complete harpsichord performance of Bach's Two-part and Three-part Inventions, my test of the finest performance/understanding of this seminal music is in the performance of the Two-part Inventions in G-major and D-major.

The Inventions were designed by Bach and given to the public as a way of making a keyboardist actually 'mimic' the human voice, no matter how many parts he had to play. The whole piece was designed for ultimate finger and brain independence, a smooth flow, a flawless technique and some wiggle room to express how the performer feels about each Invention.

But I always have to ask, at what cost did Bach hope for the keyboardist to mimic a human singer? Gould throws many of the delicious treble notes into the garbage - and he does, indeed, accomplish a singing quality that no one else has equaled, including Kenneth Gilbert. Gould, however, does this with a laissez-faire attitude toward the music Bach actually wrote. It is almost as if Gould were determined to modernize it in a sloppy, lazy way that I find too common when a musician just can't hammer out the Bach-as-written.

I know lots of people are through the roof rather than over the moon because of Gould's "eccentricities" - and I'm one of them. Here, Gould is amazingly and wonderfully silent as a performer ought to be, and the Inventions at least do not suffer as the GOLDBERG VARIATIONS did. If you watch the newest documentary on the life of this unusual genius (vid. my review), you may at least come to understand him.

No rendition is worth the level of interruption Gould usually commits- it is worse than tape hiss. Gould is otherwise competent here, and some of the Inventions are beautifully realized. But I really cannot stand the fact that the music on which I was raised, which educated me, always played on the HARPSICHORD, is being played weirdly on a ... [GASP] ... PIANO!! Heresy!!

All kidding aside, my test is the 2-part in G-major. Call me unfair, call me a mindless purist, but Gould FAILS utterly with the execution and spirit of the G-major. UTTERLY. It is almost completely without its trills and triplet notes, without the evident skill Bach had hoped to teach the performer. My second test of a performer is the Two-part in D-Major; it has an unusual and savory descending trill motif - Gould slithers his way through it far too rapidly. Bach probably would have boxed Gould's ears for playing like that. The trills Gould deigns to allow are childish, as if he is afraid to push the passion into his fingers. They are actually triplets, and while I see Gould's intention, these are Bach's Inventions, not Gould's intentions.

Gould seems to think Bach's 'instructional'-type keyboard music is beneath him, and Gould is more contemptuous to my ears than he is transcriptionist. Bach is an anchor of my life, a part of my diet, he is my 'old rugged cross'. Those like me can tell right away when a performer lives by Bach as we do - as opposed to someone who merely lives off him. Gould, cavalier as ever, lives off Bach and nothing more.

Would that the critics were more aware, see that Wendy Carlos and Kenneth Gilbert are NOT like Gould in that respect. In any case, I will be more generous than I ought, for the sake of a fellow musician at least, and state that I gave this album 3 stars only because it is Bach and because Gould did affect the world when he recorded his 1st version of GOLDBERG VARIATIONS.

Get this if you must, it's not all that bad. If you are a purist and like things AS THEY SHOULD BE, get Kenneth Gilbert's harpsichord album of the complete Two-part and Three-part Inventions (vid. my review). You'll breathe a sigh of relief with Gilbert, that such an album is even still available.

Gould in my opinion will only annoy you. To be fair, however, you cannot miss Gould's original recording of the "Goldberg Variations". However, if I say that I must then advise you to ALWAYS buy Kenneth Gilbert's Bach albums whenever you can ... they are vanishing quickly.

In an age when Some of Wendy Carlos' albums are going for $1,5000 here at Amazon, and some of Gilbert's albums range at the $200 level, you must jump on anything reasonably priced. This Gould work is fine for a collection, but you either have to be very forgiving or a hardcore Gould lover.

Gould shows these tradtional pieces played by every serious piano student can be interpretted more than one way. Some that are usually played very fast, he plays slowly, and some that are usually played fast, are played really fast - as though with super human ability. He uses legato on some that often are played stacatto, and others that are usually legato are played stacatto. An old recording that is still fresh and imaginative.

I'm very surprised that no other reviewer here has mentioned

the fact that Gould recorded these pieces with a defective piano

that had at least one clangy key. The piano was so bad that initially

CBS was going to withhold the release. Fortunately, Gould agreed to

write the liner notes himself and thereby saved the recording from

obscurity. Unfortunately, we are left with a masterpiece of diminished

quality. Certainly this is still a disc that must be owned, but be aware

it shows Glenn Gould at his egomaniacal worst.

5 stars for the perfomance, 0 stars for the piano.

I have 15-20 Glenn Gould CDs and this is the worst recording quality of the lot. The static and popping make listening to this CD an unpleasurable process despite Gould's virtuosity. Even Gould enthusiasts would be better served purchasing a higher quality recording of the same work from a less accomplished pianist, organist or harpsichordist.