Various Goldbergs

ASSIGNMENT EDITOR: fifty-two years ago, a Canadian nobody named Glenn Gould made his big splash with a Goldberg Variations, which was not only left-field repertoire but virile, robust Bach playing that turned a lot of ears and launched an eccentric career. It was the kind of record you knew growing up because your parents had it lying around, it was one of those cultural imperatives that epitomized an era when a pianist could actually make a splash (and didn’t United Artists steal the cover design for Hard Day’s Night?) This year, Simone Dinnerstein turned in a Goldberg for a debut that was no less interesting both for the choice of material and the originality of interpretation. Ever since Gould, of course, anyone playing this piece automatically compared themselves to his model, idiosyncratic as it was. But a lot’s happened in the interim: the Goldberg is no longer the odd peculiarity it once was; Gould had pretty much turned it into a warhorse. Gould himself went back and re-recorded it in 1981, even though the original was still in print. Andras Schiff took the Gould example and used it as a provocative way to DEVELOP his career: after doing the competition circuit and laying down some core repertoire, he turned to Bach almost exclusively for an extended period — and came back to earth far more nuanced and sophisticated, and it wasn’t just about voicing, either — it was even more about tone production. Don’t miss his awesomely quiet and humble Goldberg on ECM, a live recording that’s in a world all its own. Where is the long essay on this topic that goes into greater detail on the development of pianists, how recordings have reshaped ideas about repertoire, and how playing and listening has changed as a result? File under: future essays.
See also: Maria Tipo on EMI.