The Goldberg Variations

Sergey Schepkin (Artist, Performer), Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), none (Conductor) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Sergey Schepkin
• Conductor: none
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
• Audio CD (October 31, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ongaku Records
• ASIN: B000001Z2K
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #102,165 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Vars In G BWV 988: Aria

2. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 1

3. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 2

4. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 3: Canone all'Unisuono

5. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 4

6. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 5

7. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 6: Canone alla Seconda

8. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 7: Al tempo di Giga

9. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 8

10. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 9: Canone alla Quarta

11. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 10: Fughetta

12. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 11

13. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 12: Canone alla Quarta

14. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 13

15. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 14

16. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 15: Canone alla Quinta

17. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 16

18. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 17

19. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 18: Canone alla Sexta

20. Vars In G BWV 988: Var 19

See all 32 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

The New York Times

"An extraordinary young pianist...Mr. Schepkin's lofty perspective held one mesmerized...a major technique...a major Bach pianist."

Product Description

Debut recording of the leading American Bach pianist. This ground breaking recording put Sergey Schepkin on the global stage.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A golden Goldberg, February 23, 2006

By 

Bernard Jacobson (Bremerton, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Goldberg Variations (Audio CD)

Sergey Schepkin was born in St Petersburg and has studied with Russell Sherman at the New England Conservatory. His debut CD recording boldly tackles the Goldberg Variations. I am still reeling from the encounter with it, and I mean that largely as a compliment.

To start with, Schepkin's technical command makes even famous colleagues sound labored in comparison. He can play some of the most difficult variations without sounding stretched, even at exceptionally fast speeds, so that he is free to concentrate on musical expression (which is, after all, what virtuosity is about). At the same time, he takes such fast tempos rarely, and for specific purposes, and not as a sort of general velocity credential.

The actual sounds he draws from his (unspecified) instrument are often ravishing, and they cover a wide range of character and color--compare the incisive authority of the very first variation with the velvety evocation of the harpsichord's buff stop in the repeats of Variation 21.

Beyond all this, as his remarkably intelligent comments in the booklet interview underline, he has been at once bold and dedicated enough to reimagine the entire work from the ground up. All repeats are taken, and they are varied and embellished with an imagination that is at times outrageous but more often revelatory and always consistent in a validly baroque way.

One of Schepkin's tactics is to put the melody an octave up in the repeat of several variations. On the face of it, this is a perfectly defensible practice--it makes a sound foreign to Bach's world, but the piano does that anyway, and it is the meaning conveyed by the sound that is paramount. Here, however, I confess to mixed feelings, and for two reasons. One is that the device pays diminishing returns with repetition, and I think Schepkin uses it at least one time too many. The other is that, as recorded, it combines with the only small blemish in an otherwise admirable recorded sound--an area of somewhat excessive resonance around the G above the treble stave--to produce an inappropriately New-Age-ish effect as of mystical chimes.

I hope this blemish can be eradicated in the succeeding Bach recordings promised in the biographical note. On any number of points of rhythm, articulation, or tempo I could take issue with Schepkin. But he has given us a Goldberg of rare richness and beauty, and it will be a part of my view of the work from now on.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars better than Gould, June 29, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Goldberg Variations (Audio CD)

This is the greatest recording of the Goldbergs I've ever heard (and I've heard many: Gould, Rosen, Feltsman, Tureck, Schiff, Lifschitz, etc.). Schepkin plays with just incredible panache, plasticity, and spontaneity, seemingly re-creating the work rather than merely giving it another run-through. But at the same time, he doesn't distort the music in any way or get in its way--that kind of balancing act makes for the magic of a great performance. The ornaments Schepkin adds fit in perfectly and are an authentic part of the period's style, and the way he differentiates the repeats makes the variations that much more exciting. On top of that, he's one of the few people to play this work whose dexterity truly is in Gould's league. But you don't get any extraneous noises here to distract from the performance--and you do get all the repeats.

Schepkin was a pupil of Grigory Sokolov (perhaps the world's greatest living pianist--wish he'd make some more recordings!), and he belongs to the great tradition of Russian pianism. This debut disc, even more than his excellent later Bach recordings, is a real knock-out. I've bought copies for many of my friends, and all of them have been deeply impressed by this recording.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Goldbergs, February 18, 2004

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Goldberg Variations (Audio CD)

I have more than twenty-five recordings of the Goldberg Variations, most of them with pianists. Like many of my generation Glenn Gould's 1950s release hit me like a bomb; I was bitten and have never looked back. I was a little surprised that this release by Sergey Schepkin hasn't received more attention here at Amazon; up to now it's only had two short reviews. It is, however, one of my favorite versions and so I want to sing its praises a bit.

Schepkin, I believe now a faculty member at the University of Iowa, was a Bostonian at the time of recording this, his first CD. He has since gone on to record more Bach (WTC-II, the Partitas, French Suites) as well as Debussy and Schnittke. I remember how impressed I was when this came out in 1995. I had earlier been disappointed (and still am) with the 1994 Goldbergs by his countryman, Vladimir Feltsman, and yet their approach has some similarities. For one thing, they both do a fair amount of ornamenting, primarily in the repeats. But there they part company. Feltsman's ornaments feel plastered on, and they aren't terribly elegant. Schepkin's on the other hand are organic, feel spontaneous (who knows, maybe they are!), and are by and large true to baroque style.

Further Schepkin's variation in tone and easy control of phrasing leaves Feltsman in the dust. This is a musician first and foremost, not just a technician. I've felt the same way about his Well Tempered Clavier and Partitas. At the time of this recording he was still studying with Russell Sherman, not a pianist particularly noted for playing Bach as far as I know, but one can hear some of Sherman's kind of intellect combined with an occasional appealing waywardness.

As to particular high spots for me in this recording I'd point to the repeats of the Aria, a dancing Var. 2, the sturdily forthright Var. 4, the flowing Canon alla Terza (Var. 9), the inward Var. 13 (gorgeous tone), the sprightly Var. 18 (Canon alla Sexta) with a charming octave displacement in the repeats, the elegant Var. 19 gavotte, the quietly anguished Var. 25, a jolly Quodlibet.

I reach for this performance as often as any I own. Heartily recommended.

TT=71:53

Scott Morrison