Customer Reviews

The Goldberg Variations

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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.

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.

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

Okay, to admit that both of Glenn Gould's recordings of the Goldberg have a vertiginous ectasy about them--performed with a jaw-dropping pianism and surgeon-like articulation. If one is looking for a penultimate version of the Goldberg, indulge in one of the Gouldian versions first. (The 1955 version is my personal favorite but the one recorded for CBS Masterworks 27 years later is also quite special) But this version...wow, wow and thrice wow! Schepkin is definitely in the same realm as Gould. There is none of the typical sloppy keyboard work camouflaged with heavy pedalling, no ponderous Liberace-esque galumphing and histrionics. Exceptional talent and ability speak for themselves and is made evident without all the marketing and fluff--all the tangential and extraneous dramatugy that tries to make the mediocre seem larger than it really is. If you are someone loves the Goldberg and enjoys the aesthetic delineations that come from listening to different versions of the same recording, then I strongely urge you to partake of Sergey Schepkin's magisterial talent. You will not be disappointed.

Schepkin is in a league with the greatest Bach pianists. He manages to combine a romantic and classical approach to the music such as is rarely heard. His use of color is impeccable and his passion for the music is evident at every turn. Plenty of vitality.

a most pleasing rendition of the goldberg variations. it rates
favorably with its peers, deserving a place in your collection
along with schiff and even gould.