- Paperback: 120 pages
- Publisher: Cambridge University Press (27 Sep 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0521001935
- ISBN-13: 978-0521001939
- Product Dimensions: 2.1 x 1.4 x 0.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 556,524 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Peter Williams manages to pack in an extraordinary amount of information about the work's background, compositional techniques and structures, and reception history. His consideration of the work's relationships to a large amount of other music is particularly remarkable. The writing style is fresh and engaging and the material presented clearly and concisely. We can safely say that Williams's book will be the fundamental work on its subject for years to come.' Eighteenth-Century Music
Product Description
Many listeners and players are fascinated by Bach's Goldberg Variations. In this wideranging and searching study, Professor Williams, one of the leading Bach scholars of our time, helps them probe its depths and understand its uniqueness. He considers the work's historical origins, especially in relation to all Bach's Clavierübung volumes and late keyboard works, its musical agenda and its formal shape, and discusses significant performance issues. In the course of the book he poses a number of key questions. Why should such a work be written? Does the work have both a conceptual and a perceptual shape? What other music is likely to have influenced the Goldberg and to what extent is it trying to be encyclopedic? What is the canonic vocabulary? How have contemporaries or musicians from Beethoven to the present day seen this work and, above all, how has its mysterious beauty been created?
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Quite what the implications of the curiously unprepossessing term 'Keyboard Practice' are is less clear than one might suppose. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Quite what the implications of the curiously unprepossessing term 'Keyboard Practice' are is less clear than one might suppose. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this a good commentary on a work I have struggled to play for 40 years , assumes a lot of musical knowledge but not too turgid for the interested reader
22 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I enjoy listening to the Goldberg Variations, and I had looked forward to reading this book. What a disappointment!
Several questions about the work are asked in the text, but no answers given. If one of the leading Bach scholars of our time does not know the answer, what is the point of asking the question?
The book is full of numerology. It is suggested that Bach wrote fourteen extra canons inside the back cover because B+A+C+H = 2+1+3+8=14 ! There is no evidence given that Bach ever wasted his time with numerology. Referring to the ten canons in the Musical Offering we have the conjecture;- "Ten for the Commandments (decem canones)- if not why not? If so, why?" One can make any ridiculous suggestion, and then say "if not,why not? If so,why?"
The author goes on to list the "multiples and powers of two" that can be found in the Variations. e.g.
"2 halves to the whole work" (Is a work in one half possible?)
"2 keys (major, minor)"
etc., etc..
For some reason he omits the fact that Bach had two hands, two feet, and two eyes.
The final chapter discusses how other authors have written about the Goldberg Variations. Referring to one author's work, Peter Williams says "Unfortunately for its author, this essay's whole approach is modelled on a previous and similar reading ... that was never more than conjectural, unilluminating, and irrelevant."
Unfortunately for Peter Williams, conjectural, unilluminating and irrelevant are apt descriptions of this book.
Don't waste your money on this book. If you enjoy listening to the Goldberg Variations, I strongly recommend the arrangement performed by the Canadian Brass Quintet [BMG Classics 09026-63610-2]
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
What a shame!!!! This book leaves more unanswered meaningless questions than would be expected.The Goldberg Variations are indeed a work of true art,unlike this book.
Dont buy this book because its pointless
Dont buy this book because its pointless
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