Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations (CD plus score) - Rosalyn Tureck [Enhanced]

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Rosalyn Tureck (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Rosalyn Tureck
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
• Audio CD (March 9, 1999)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B00000I93R
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #180,712 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Aria

2. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 1. a 1 Clav.

3. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 2. a 1 Clav.

4. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 3. Canone all'Unisuono a 1 Clav.

5. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 4. a 1 Clav.

6. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 5. a 1 o vero 2 Clav.

7. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 6. Canone alla Seconda a 1 Clav.

8. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 7. a 1 o vero 2 Clav. (al tempo di Giga)

9. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 8. a 2 Clav.

10. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 9. Canone alla Terza a 1 Clav.

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 16. Ouverture a 1 Clav.

2. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 17. a 2 Clav.

3. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 18. Canone alla Sesta a 1 Clav.

4. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 19. a 1 Clav.

5. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 20. a 2 Clav.

6. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 21. Canone alla Settima (a 1 Clav.)

7. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 22. a 1 Clav. (alla breve)

8. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 23. a 2 Clav.

9. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 24. Canone all'Ottava a 1 Clav.

10. Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Variatio 25. a 2 Clav. (Adagio)

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Users with a computer can follow the score on screen and call up illustrated articles on Bach and his times and interactive musical analyses that are stored as text. They can format and print out the music, make additions to the score, which can be addedin color, if desired. They can produce MIDI files of the work to practice with and to create personal interpretations. Texts are available in English, German, French, and Spanish versions.in color, if desired. They can produce MIDI files of the work to practice with and to create personal interpretations. Texts are available in English, German, French, and Spanish versions.
Genre: Classical Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 9-MAR-1999

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars RT gives thought to every note, July 6, 2000

By 

Rubén (US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations (CD plus score) - Rosalyn Tureck (Audio CD)

Like so many others weaned on Gould's versions, at first listen this was a disappointment. Once you downshift though, Tureck's cerebral, yet beautiful playing soon overwhelmed me. Just like Arrau, she plays each note and phrase with much thought and subtelty. The recording quality is excellent. A wonderful listen to this is late at night....

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Slow and melancholical, March 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations (CD plus score) - Rosalyn Tureck (Audio CD)

Slow and melancholical are the words i'd use for this performance. I can't imagine anything more beautiful than this. The absolute opposite of Gould's 1955 performance.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Glorious Experience, December 14, 2007

By 

Dermot Elworthy "Contra Posaune" (Florida , United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations (CD plus score) - Rosalyn Tureck (Audio CD)

I am old enough to remember the stir caused in musical circles by the release of Glenn Gould's 1955 "Goldbergs". I liked his performances then and I like them now.

Bach wrote only two works in the Chaconne or Passacaglia idiom. It often is claimed that the Goldberg Variations are similarly based but that is incorrect. True, the fundamental harmony is unchanging and the variations are based on this rather than on the melody which more usually is the case but the work is not a Passacaglia. Nor is it, as has been described, a "seemingly mechanical sequence of elaborations". One has to suppose that that particular reviewer had heard only mechanically sequential performances for there is absolutely nothing remotely mechanical about these variations - unlike many of the banal and predictable offerings from Handel and a few others. Bach's Goldbergs are the very pinnacle of development of the Variation as a musical form and, as with the "Vom Himmel hoch" variations for organ (also canonic), he has exploited the art to its limits. The only other set of variations to come close in such creativity is the Brahms Opus 24 and appearing well over a hundred years later.

The interpretations of Rosalyn Tureck, leaving aside such obvious differences as tempi etc., are not widely dissimilar to those of Gould and it is easy to see why the latter preferred her approach to that of others. In a sense, they have both arrived at much the same point but by very different routes; Gould through his highly individual genius, Tureck by profound scholarship.

After half a century of listening to Gould's offerings, I feel I have outgrown his exagerated mannerisms, become irritated by the sour notes from his over-regulated piano and find his humming tiresome. More recently, I have come to admire Rosalyn Tureck who demands a little effort on the part of the listener in order to appreciate what she is doing and why, but the effort is wonderfully rewarded. One may appreciate these works on an intellectual level - every third variation is a two-part canon at increasing intervals up to a canon at the ninth in the twenty-seventh variation - or just relax to quietly doze off as, hopefully, did the insomniac Count Keyserlingk for whom these variations were (indirectly) written in 1742.

Frankly, I think Rosalyn Tureck incomparable and if I had to be limited to only one of her Bach recordings, (could I survive such deprivation?) unquestionably, this would be it.

The "enhanced" Deutsche Grammophon recording is excellent. Indeed, I think it the best quality of all the recordings she made - we are fortunate that this should have been reserved for such a special performance of the Goldbergs. I recommend these (2) CDs with unbounded enthusiasm and quite without reservation.

If magic exists in recorded music, this is where it is to be found.