The Gould Variations: The Best of Glenn Gould's Bach [Enhanced, Original recording remastered]

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Glenn Gould (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Glenn Gould
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
• Audio CD (August 29, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Enhanced, Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00004WK47
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,749 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

From ClassicsToday.com

If you've never heard Glenn Gould's Bach, this well planned

compilation might just be your ticket to ride, as well as a great gift

idea. Disc one begins and ends with the Aria from the Goldberg

Variations (Gould's theme song, sort of). Among familiar Gouldian fare

are the Fifth Partita, selected inventions, plus the C major and D

major Preludes and Fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier. Some less

obvious choices also prove compelling examples of Gould's x-ray Bach

style: the A minor Italian Variations, the Gigue from the B minor

French overture, and the Chromatic Fantasy minus its fugue (Gould

hated the fugue, and never recorded it!). Disc two contains Gould's

sole organ recording, devoted to the first nine movements of The Art

of Fugue. If you insert this disc in your computer CD-ROM drive, you

can access a nifty interactive program. It includes full scores, liner

notes, logs from the recording session, and marvelous video footage of

Gould playing selections from Bach's valedictory opus at the

piano. You'll be spellbound as Gould launches with soft, concentrated

deliberation into the final section of the great unfinished fugue

(where Bach's name is spelled out in musical notes). At the very

moment Bach's manuscript breaks off, Gould's hunched-over image

freezes in midair. I get goose bumps every time I see it.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An odd assortment of Gould's "best" Bach, August 7, 2001

By 

Howard Sauertieg "Howard Sauertieg" (Harrisburg, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gould Variations: The Best of Glenn Gould's Bach (Audio CD)

The "best of Glenn Gould's Bach" is a strange subtitle for a strange sampler. Coming several years after the Sony re-issues of remastered Gould recordings, this collection seems either belated or superfluous. Arguably, the selections don't even represent highlights from the corpi Gould tackled over the years. A disproportionate amount of space is given to relative obscurities, e.g. Aria Variata for keyboard ("in the Italian style"). Surely a legitimate "best of" would include a few more preludes/fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier? Also, the pace of the music over the length of the first disc is almost relentlessly brisk, like a treasury of vintage Dixieland piano rolls. The second disc is interesting as it includes 1 entire LP - Gould's performance on organ of 9 fugues from The Art of Fugue - plus videos of Gould performing fugues on piano. Consequently, while this set is not truly a "best of," it's a valuable collection of oddities and rarities and a worthwhile investment.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gould selections for music newcomers!, February 21, 2006

By 

Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gould Variations: The Best of Glenn Gould's Bach (Audio CD)

As you know the excel passion of Gould for Bach 's music accompanied him along his lifetime. He not only rediscovered a new approach around Bach 's playing but besides he notably contributed to spread the taste for the Academic music all over the world. He represented the irreverent musician per excellence but his absolute domain of the musical socre, his absolute control and senes of every little bar made of him a must reference at the moment to establish fundamental parameters. He broke paradigms and gave back the music a renovated splendor.

Since his awful vanishing in 1982, a whole generation of new listeners, his name has become as cult pattern. So that is the mainreason to acquire this album, becuase it contains the minimum facets in the intrepretative art of the musician of musicians: Johann Sebastian Bach.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Genius of the highest order!, April 28, 2011

By 

WKT (Knoxville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Gould Variations: The Best of Glenn Gould's Bach (Audio CD)

Genius of the highest order! What can I say about Gould and his playing that hasn't already been said. He is a musical gift for the ages. Of all the recordings placed on the Voyager, this is the one I'd be most proud to have an extraterrestrial society find--even they would have to wonder at it. I love the story told of one of Gould first concerts in Moscow. No one there really knew him. It was advertised as a Bach program which brought little excitement and the attendance was quite sparse as Glenn took the stage. However, as he began to play, jaw after jaw began to drop! The story goes that many got up out of there seats and headed for the exit...no not what your thinking...and ran, not walked, to every available phone booth (the 50's no texting) to call friends and anyone else to get down to the music hall immediately!! By the second half of the concert the Hall was packed to the rafters!! That says it all. His music (especially the Goldberg's) still has that impact today.