Goldberg Variations / Variations

Tepfer (Artist), J.S. Bach (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 8, 2011)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sunnyside Records
• ASIN: B005MZJXTM
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #68,944 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #98 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Variations

Editorial Reviews

Review

"a fascinating and engrossing listen... [Tepfer] meets exhilaration with exhilaration... A huge and unique success." - Peter Hum --Ottawa Citizen

"On his latest album, the 29-year-old pianist not only had the audacity to play Bach s Goldberg Variations he improvised on them. The results are elegant, thoughtful, and thrilling." --New York Magazine

Product Description

Dan Tepfer has created a kaleidoscopic experience with his solo album Goldberg Variations / Variations, the jazz pianist approaching J.S. Bach's masterpiece one of the classical canon's most totemic works as an inspiring font for creativity. Interspersed with his affectionate interpretation of the complete "Goldbergs" are his own improvised variations on Bach's variations. No Jacques Loussier-style swinging of the classics, Tepfer's variations are marked by a ruminative joy, spiced with contemporary dissonances and a deep feel for the source as timeless music beyond category.

Although the Goldberg Variations are beloved now as an entrancing, virtually sacred work of art, Johann Sebastian Bach published the score consisting of an "aria" and a set of 30 variations in 1741 as a keyboard study, with the piece later nicknamed for the harpsichordist who might have been its first performer. From Glenn Gould to Pierre Hantaï, the modern world's greatest classical artists have performed and recorded the "Goldbergs." Investing himself totally in music he has known since childhood, Dan Tepfer recorded his Goldberg Variations / Variations completely solo, even engineering the late-night sessions himself for total immersion in the process. The result is both utterly individual and genuinely moving.

Goldberg Variations / Variations is the 29-year-old, New York-based Tepfer's sixth album as leader or co-leader, following three heading a trio, one of solo piano improvisations, and another featuring duets with veteran saxophone luminary Lee Konitz. Known for his rare improvisational gift and a complex yet melodic approach to music-making, the prize-winning pianist has been hailed as "a player of exceptional poise" by The New York Times, while Downbeat extolled his "ability to disappear into the music as he's making it."

For those who deem Bach's music untouchable, they should remember Stravinsky's rejoinder to those who criticized his transformation of Baroque compositions in Pulcinella as disrespectful: "You `respect,' but I love," he said. As for Tepfer, he says: "What I'm doing is definitely loving. But instead of recording the Goldberg Variations and then writing lengthy liner notes about how I feel about them, I'm expressing how I feel about them in music, with my improvisations on Bach's variations. One challenge was switching gears playing this classical music that's a real test for me and for so many pianists, then the next minute really improvising and being free."

With Bach using the same chord progression throughout the Goldberg Variations, his musical process wasn't as different from jazz as it might seem. "That is really what we do in jazz, particularly when playing standards," Tepfer explains. "We take the chord progression of a tune, and it's often as simple as Bach's Aria, and we make variations on it. Lee Konitz has been playing the same tunes his whole life. One of the amazing things about him is you'll play the same song with him on tour night after night say, `All the Things You Are' and it will be really different every night. So if you recorded all of those and put them end to end, it might sound like what Bach
had done with the `Goldbergs,' taking one simple piece of material and weaving all these different emotional states into it. With my improvisations, it was a case of, how much more diversity can I get out of this chord progression? And what's really important to me as an improviser is to have a voice. So I'm reacting to Bach with my own tone, my own vocabulary."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Such a rainbow of musical colors, November 14, 2011

By 

Robert Carraher "The Dirty Lowdown" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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

Dan Tepfer is one of the most formidable jazz pianists on the international stage and hailed as such by press on every continent you can keep a piano in tune (Antarctica does not qualify). He has owned the spotlight the world over, from his solo work to full orchestra performances, and his improve skills are awe inspiring. His style is more melodic, he's not one to display his technical prowess through big blasts of dissonance and drama. This comes to the listeners ear as playful, fun, sexy and just beautiful. There is such a rainbow of musical colors that it takes you away before you even knew you were packed.

He has chronicled his talents on the solo disc Twelve Free Improvisations in Twelve Keys (2009) as well as the trio sessions Before the Storm (2005), Oxygen (2007) and Five Pedals Deep . Here, he brings that melodic lyricism to JS Bach's Goldberg Variations. To tackle the masters iconic work is a pretty ambitious ideal, but Tepfer is more than equal to the task. This is no popular music take on Bach, so don't expect A 5th Of Beethoven or Hooked On Bach. This is a masterful pianist, a classically trained pianist and a young man who has been praised wherever he has graced the ears of jazz and classical fans giving us a respectful and affectionate interpretation of the complete "Goldbergs" and interspersed are his improv variations on Bach's Variations...did that make sense?

For Tepfer, this was no "romp" through the play ground, no playful process for showing off. He disappears into the music and I am told that he even engineered this disk himself to further immerse himself in the pieces and the project. In between Bach's own variations are Tepfer's improvisation and though true to the original you can feel the kiss of jazz. Wonderful stuff. My advice to you. Grab a good book, and put this album on and get lost in a marvelous disk.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ultimate Goldbergs, November 13, 2011

By 

Carry me Bach - See all my reviews

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

The Goldbergs plus a grand leap of faith in Bach, music and adventure. There is more to be heard with each listen. Rich, exciting and new.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Variational variations, December 21, 2011

By 

bln - See all my reviews

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

This is a beautiful CD that will give you a fresh perspective on the venerable Goldberg variations: beyond Dan Tepfer's interpretation of Bach's work, you get a creative insight into what you just heard by listening to how one dimension or another in the original variation gives rise to a new piece. It's like peeking into the essence of inspiration. Variations on the variations, or meta-variations, if you will!