Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer: Klara Würtz
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Piano Classics
Release: 2022
Size: 1.24 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Goldberg Variations, BWV 988
01. I. Aria
02. II. Variatio 1
03. III. Variatio 2
04. IV. Variatio 3, canone all Unisuono
05. V. Variatio 4
06. VI. Variatio 5
07. VII. Variatio 6, canone alla Seconda
08. VIII. Variatio 7, al tempo di Giga
09. IX. Variatio 8
10. X. Variatio 9, canone alla Terza
11. XI. Variatio 10, Fugetta
12. XII. Variatio 11
13. XIII. Variatio 12, canone alla Quarta
14. XIV. Variatio 13
15. XV. Variatio 14
16. XVI. Variatio 15, canone alla quinta Andante
17. XVII. Variatio 16, Ouverture
18. XVIII. Variatio 17
19. XIX. Variatio 18, canone alla Sexta
20. XX. Variatio 19
21. XXI. Variatio 20
22. XXII. Variatio 21, canone alla Settima
23. XXIII. Variatio 22, Allabreve
24. XXIV. Variatio 23
25. XXV. Variatio 24, canone all’ Ottava
26. XXVI. Variatio 25, Adagio
27. XXVII. Variatio 26
28. XXVIII. Variatio 27, canone alla Nona
29. XXIX. Variatio 28
30. XXX. Variatio 29
31. XXXI. Variatio 30, Quodlibet
32. XXXII. Aria da Capo
The touch and musicianship of the Hungarian pianist Klára Würtz is amply attested by a substantial catalogue of Brilliant Classics and Piano Classics albums stretching from Mozart to Bartók. This recording turns to a pillar of the keyboard repertoire, the variation set composed by J. S. Bach in 1741 as the fourth and final volume of his compendious Clavier-Übung project.
Practical instruction, entertainment and profound expression went hand in hand for Bach: one artistic goal never obscured the others. However, few of his works attain all three goals with the sublime mastery of the Goldberg Variations. The prowess of the performer is tested and placed on show as much as the ingenuity of the creative imagination in Bach’s most comprehensive response to the variation genre. The Goldberg Variations takes its name from a young pupil of Bach, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who was in the service of Count von Keyserlingk. The Count was a notoriously bad sleeper, and requested of Bach a series of pieces for Goldberg to play to him when he could not sleep; he then considered the work to be “his”, although it is widely referred to by the name of its performer.
“Composed for connoisseurs, for the refreshment of their spirits”: the composer’s dedication and introduction makes the artistic intent of the Goldberg Variations plain. Every third variation in the series of 30 is a canon, following an ascending pattern. The variations that intervene between the canons are also arranged in a pattern, following an order of canon, genre piece (such as a minuet or gigue) and a more freely developed and ornate fantasia. The whole set is bookended by an aria in the style of a sarabande which already presents the theme in decorated form as a grave chaconne.
The poised classicism of Klára Würtz’s pianism makes this new recording of the Goldbergs an album to be keenly anticipated by all pianophiles and lovers of Bach. She takes all the repeats, and plays with the full armoury of the modern piano’s tonal capabilities.