Bach Goldberg Variations on piano

[George]

Would anyone be interested in decent sounding bootleg of Grigory Sokolov's live performance of Goldbergs?

Yup! 

[Bunny]

Would anyone be interested in decent sounding bootleg of Grigory Sokolov's live performance of Goldbergs?

Sure!  Why not?

[Drasko]

Ok,

Grigory Sokolov - Bach BWV 988" - 86’43/ Recorded in the Grand Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic Society, February 27, 1982

http://files.mail.ru/IW2R3Z

(to download wait 10 seconds countdown then click on link saying BachGoldVarSok.rar )

rar password if needed:

Code Select Expand

www.intoclassics.net

[Novi]

Ok,

Grigory Sokolov - Bach BWV 988" - 86'43/ Recorded in the Grand Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic Society, February 27, 1982

http://files.mail.ru/IW2R3Z

(to download wait 10 seconds countdown then click on link saying BachGoldVarSok.rar )

rar password if needed:

Code Select Expand

www.intoclassics.net

Thanks, Drasko!

[Opus106]

Thanks, Drasko!

Yes, thank you. I'm yet to listen to that Hewitt recital completely -- she takes all the repeats in the world! But it doesn't hurt to add another Goldberg to the list.

[DarkAngel]

With Feltsman, I will only say caveat emptor.

I have listened to Feltsman/Nimbus Goldberg and WTC I,II and they just don't impress me much

I have placed them on the CDs to sell pile (good thing they were cheap at Amazon).......the WTCs especially did little to keep my interest, many slower parts seemed to drag and lack inspiration I hear in Gould, Feinberg and other piano versions.....now I know

 

[Bulldog]

I have listened to Feltsman/Nimbus Goldberg and WTC I,II and they just don't impress me much

I have placed them on the CDs to sell pile (good thing they were cheap at Amazon).......the WTCs especially did little to keep my interest, many slower parts seemed to drag and lack inspiration I hear in Gould, Feinberg and other piano versions.....now I know

 

What did you think of Feltsman's repeats in the Goldbergs?

[DarkAngel]

What did you think of Feltsman's repeats in the Goldbergs?

I actually liked the Feltsman Goldberg better than WTCs, I don't recall anything that sounded out of placed or strangely exaggerated to me in the repeats, I heard Goldberg first and thought that was pretty good I will surely like the WTCs also......unfortuantely that was not the case for me, WTC left me wanting more

There was a 7+ day delay till I finally heard the Feltsman WTCs, perhaps I am beiing too optimistic about the Goldberg in retrospect, regardless they are both in the CD sell pile   

[Bunny]

I actually liked the Feltsman Goldberg better than WTCs, I don't recall anything that sounded out of placed or strangely exaggerated to me in the repeats, I heard Goldberg first and thought that was pretty good I will surely like the WTCs also......unfortuantely that was not the case for me, WTC left me wanting more

There was a 7+ day delay till I finally heard the Feltsman WTCs, perhaps I am beiing too optimistic about the Goldberg in retrospect, regardless they are both in the CD sell pile   

Those delays can really be annoyance.  Remember Caiman?  Either they delivered super fast at super cheap prices or you waited weeks until they canceled the order.  They are gone!  The operation seems to have folded although Tower.com, which they own is still going. 

I'm not familiar with the recordings, but I recently heard Feltsman doing some Bach and Mussorgsky (have I spelled it right?) and that night I felt that in the Mussorgsky he had two ways of playing the piano: loud and louder.  His Bach was easier on the ears than the Mussorgsky, but I didn't care for his touch or dynamics in that either.  I remember when he was "imprisoned" in the American Embassy in Moscow, trying to get permission from the Soviet government to emigrate.  He was lauded as such a great pianist, especially for Chopin.  They recorded a concert he did at the Embassy which I found, also because of the sound quality, extremely disappointing.   Although I was routing for him to get permission to leave, I just couldn't understand the hype about his playing.

Btw, at the concert I attended, he was a last minute substitute for Krystian Zimerman who pulled out because of illness.  I hope Zimerman is now doing better.

[PaulSC]

Daniel Pienaar has a new recording of the GV on Avie in which his main interpretive aim seems to have been setting new speed records in all but a small handful of the variations. Judging from the previews at Amazon.com, he also seems to skip most of the repeats, and in so doing he manages to fit the entirety of BWV 988, plus the fourteen Goldberg canons and a charming rendition of Bist Du Bei Mir, all within a total time of 56:25.

[asin] B005KO3KDA[/asin]

On a purely technical level, the disc is somewhat impressive, although I'm sure many pianists could match these tempos if they showed equally little regard for phrasing and clarity of articulation. Further in the "Pro" category: the inverted canon at the fifth comes off well at Pienaar's rather lively tempo, and the uncommonly leisurely pace he sets for the canon  at the sixth is also a pleasure at least in the context of his overall performance.

All in all, this is by no means a likely purchase for me — but I might give it a listen straight through if I find it at  NML — after all, it's less than an hour of my time.

[Oldnslow]

A current favorite of mine on piano for  the Goldbergs is the Chinese pianist Zhu Xiao-Mei, based in Paris, who records on the Mirare label. I enjoyed her WTC, and her Goldbergs is also very fine, as is her Haydn disc.

[jlaurson]

What did you think of Feltsman's repeats in the Goldbergs?

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2008/05/more-goldberg-variations.html

...Conservatory (it was the 16 year old Lifschitz's graduate recital, if I recall correctly), also observes all the repeats, and also employs mock register changes.

Feltsman's touch is very deliberate, delicate, and of weightless elegance in the aria, though never 'precious'. Very early on it becomes clear that Feltsman plays Bach more as if he were performing on a harpsichord than any pianist I have heard, but he doesn't do it in the Gould way of trying to make the piano sound like the harpsichord it isn't. No repeat is exactly as the first – there are always changes in registration, ornamentation, or voicing – sometimes all of them together. That can sound idiosyncratic, even here, but sufficient musical sensibility and taste prevent the playing from ever nearing wayward vulgarity.


The arpeggiated four note chord in the 11th bar of the aria, a calling card for every interpreter, is first taken from the top down (g2-e2-b-g) as does Gould (and various pianists, but usually only in the repeat) – to marvelous effect. Feltsman doesn't invert it in the repeat – which he starts out an octave higher, he makes it a coy bracketed step (g2- b- e2-g). The faux-register shifts, like Feltsman's in the aria repeat, can drive harpsichord players up the wall when done in place of actually changing nuances, because it seems to suggest that the pianist thinks that a harpsichord played really only changes octaves, rather than further vary his or her playing. Thankfully, Feltsman does t...

A current favorite of mine on piano for  the Goldbergs is the Chinese pianist Zhu Xiao-Mei, based in Paris, who records on the Mirare label. I enjoyed her WTC, and her Goldbergs is also very fine, as is her Haydn disc.

One of my favorites, too. And don't forget her Scarlatti disc; that's the bees' knees, too!

[bumtz]

Daniel Pienaar has a new recording of the GV on Avie in which his main interpretive aim seems to have been setting new speed records in all but a small handful of the variations. Judging from the previews at Amazon.com, he also seems to skip most of the repeats, and in so doing he manages to fit the entirety of BWV 988, plus the fourteen Goldberg canons and a charming rendition of Bist Du Bei Mir, all within a total time of 56:25.

On a purely technical level, the disc is somewhat impressive, although I'm sure many pianists could match these tempos if they showed equally little regard for phrasing and clarity of articulation. Further in the “Pro” category: the inverted canon at the fifth comes off well at Pienaar's rather lively tempo, and the uncommonly leisurely pace he sets for the canon  at the sixth is also a pleasure at least in the context of his overall performance.

All in all, this is by no means a likely purchase for me — but I might give it a listen straight through if I find it at  NML — after all, it's less than an hour of my time.

Does not sound that interesting judging from the amazon sound samples. I do like my piano Goldbergs fast, and in this domain, in addition to Gould '55, I really enjoy idiosyncratic Weissenberg '81 interpretation. It is posted in its entirety on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mX9qIVbMcA and further on.

[PaulSC]

I've been meaning to check out Weissenberg. Among GV's with generally fast tempos, my favorite pianistic rendition is probably Stefan Vladar.

[asin]B0035WARU8[/asin]

[Bulldog]

Daniel Pienaar has a new recording of the GV on Avie in which his main interpretive aim seems to have been setting new speed records in all but a small handful of the variations. Judging from the previews at Amazon.com, he also seems to skip most of the repeats, and in so doing he manages to fit the entirety of BWV 988, plus the fourteen Goldberg canons and a charming rendition of Bist Du Bei Mir, all within a total time of 56:25.

[asin] B005KO3KDA[/asin]

On a purely technical level, the disc is somewhat impressive, although I'm sure many pianists could match these tempos if they showed equally little regard for phrasing and clarity of articulation. Further in the "Pro" category: the inverted canon at the fifth comes off well at Pienaar's rather lively tempo, and the uncommonly leisurely pace he sets for the canon  at the sixth is also a pleasure at least in the context of his overall performance.

All in all, this is by no means a likely purchase for me — but I might give it a listen straight through if I find it at  NML — after all, it's less than an hour of my time.

I'm not a big fan of this recording.  His fast tempos are not my problem, but the rather unmusical way he plays many of the variations.  I don't get the sense that he really loves the Goldbergs, just that he wants to get through it as fast as possible; those quick tempos and lack of repeats insures a speedy turn-around.  Matters do improve when he slows down, but there's nothing special here either.