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77 of 80 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This great-value double CD contains over 140 minutes of Glenn Gould playing unaccompanied pieces by Bach on the piano. There are 6 partitas (an old form of the sonata) recorded in 1957, just 2 years after his astonishing debut, and then a considerable number of preludes, fugues and fughettas recorded in 1980, at the end of Gould's career, just before he died. So what you get is a nice broad sweep of the Canadian genius' career, and an awful lot of Bach. The playing, as one expects from Gould, is charming, truthful, clear, fluent, enthusiastic, dazzling. He seems to be able to read the textures of the counter-point so well, and can carry 5 or 6 tunes at once with apparent ease. The 1st and 4th partitas are remarkably beautiful, and the two groups of 'little preludes' on the second CD contain so much of interest for Bach fans: some clock in at just 30 seconds, others last for three minutes, and every one contains a new idea. Gould explores and animates each note, and the role of each note in the piece, with a joy and an attention to detail that Bach would have called religious, and which Gould's psychoanalysts and biographers have called obsessive. But he is true to the music. He doesn't cheat. Never touching the sustain pedal, his interpretation is dry and pointed, and never errs into the watery mush that is Neo-Romanticism. There are no tricks at all. This is the sound of a man who was the greatest piano player of them all, and who dedicated his entire life to the worship of and, thankfully, the recording of J.S.Bach. I have listened to this CD a hundred times and I am only just starting to uncover the deep and varied textures that it contains. It will change the way you hear music.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
From all of bach's works, this (the partitas) is my favourite one. Compared to similar compositions i'd say that it's not as simple as the french suites neither strict and cerebral as the english suites. There are of course greater works but to me this speaks straight to the soul and the heart. Each partita is different from the other, with the even-numbered ones going further than the odd-numbered. For me, the best is the fourth, especially in this rendition by glenn gould (the allemande here seems more of an anthem rather than a dance,and probably that's what bach ment it to be). I am not a pianist therefore i can not judge his piano playing. i am a guitarist though and i think i can appreciate his effort from another point of view. And i assure you that although there may be other pianists playing these pieces in a more "authentic" -if there is such a thing - or pianistic way, this is probably the one and only interpretation that will reveal itself to you with every new listening as being the most deep and musical. Best example perhaps is the sarabande from partita nr 3: not typical sarabande playing but it stops your breath where other renditions bore you to death. The little pieces prove once again that it takes a true musician to discover masterpieces in a repertory discarded as children's pieces.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is a cornerstone of Bach playing which can stand as its own until the end of time. Very few pianists can match clarity & delicacy of these performances.
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