Johann Sebastian Bach is one of my top five all-time favorite composers. It’s simply astounding how much music this man wrote, in so many different genres, for so many different instruments.
If you don’t believe in magic, you might just change your mind after listening to Glenn Gould’s version of the Goldberg Variations.
Glenn Gould’s debut album of Bach’s Goldberg Variations was recorded in June 1955. The Columbia LP quickly became one of the most revered piano recordings ever made and Gould became the most famous classical artist of the day. His exciting, unorthodox new way of playing Bach left listeners awestruck and critics worldwide hailing him as a genius. But until recently, this iconic album was limited by the dated recording technology of its time.
On September 25, 2006, history was made again. Zenph Studios recorded its debut re-performance® to standing ovations in the CBC’s famed Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. The date would have been Glenn Gould’s 74th birthday, and what a gift Zenph created to give his fans.
In 2007, Edward Rothstein of The NY Times writes, “Before the demonstration I returned to the 1955 recording, which I had not heard for several years. I was swept away again. This is not spiritual playing, plumbing the profundity of Bach’s meditations; it is ecstatic, uncanny in its intoxication. The recording is skittish, illuminating, thrilling and extraordinarily physical: the playing seeps into muscles as well as ears; every phrase exerts the pressure and play of dance.”
Open thread.