Glenn Gould: A State of Wonder - The Complete Goldberg Variations [Box set]

The set is beutifully presented in a triple-fold digipak format, and the printing quality is excellent.

Gould's 1955 recording of the Goldberg Variations received rave reviews. It has been reissued numerous times on vinyl, cassette, CD, and even 8-track and has never been "out of print". For many people it is THE recording, although it is said that Gould himself came to despise it. The notes quote him as having described it as "the most overrated keyboard disc of all time".

Too much has been written by people far better qualified than I, but suffice it to say that, for me, it is probably the most inspired playing of Bach I have ever heard.

The 1981 version could hardly be more different, taken at generally lower tempi, and with some repetition of variations or even parts of variations, entirely eschewed in the 1955 recording. It is clearly a more thoughtful and mature working and almost brings Gould's career to a close, as if mindful of his imminent and premature demise

Interestingly, the publicly-released 1981 version was taken from a recording made using the then new and trendy digital equipment. Sony's Reissue Producer for this new realease, Louise de la Fuente, and her team, went back and auditioned the simultaneously recorded analogue version and found it far more "musical". Transferring this to digital with much the much better A to D converters now available, they carefully selected matching sections from the sessions and pasted together a new master which matched note-for-note the original release. Their work has paid dividends, resulting in a wonderfully clear piano sound.

Next, the 1981 analogue re-recording (at 51’ 14” significantly slower, differently expressed and incorporating selected repeats). This compares favourably with the digital version released in 1982, days before Gould’s tragically early death. It is sonically fuller, though the ambience seems to temper the characteristic ‘attack’ of his playing.

Then there is a third CD including some 1955 studio outtakes (released for the first time) and an extensive Page interview with Gould himself.

As if this wasn’t enough, the booklet sealed into the front of the attractive fold-out package includes a survey of Gould in the studio, the original liner notes he wrote for the 1955 recording, an excerpt from the score he annoted in 1981, and technical comments on these 16-bit 44.1KHz discs, including the digital-to-analogue issues on the 1981 set.

One note of caution, however. The omission of any direct mention of J. S. Bach on the front cover of this set, and in my review so far, is not without significance. For although these renditions are firmly rooted in the master’s aria and variations of BMV 988, they truly are (simultaneously) Glenn Gould from start to finish. He took what had once been regarded as beautiful but rather dryly academic harpsichord exercises and transformed them into a pianoforte tour-de-force that combined a deeply committed reading of the score with an unashamedly modern, post-Romantic sensibility.

Where does Gould begin and Bach end? Weave your way through all the raging arguments about authenticity in performance if you will - it is still pretty difficult to tell. Any yet it is also very clear. Whereas some of the myriad piano versions of Goldberg undeniably mire Bach in sentiment and floridity, Gould does neither. There is fire and passion here, certainly. But also restraint and attention. For musicologists it isn’t difficult to quarrel over points of interpretation, the faith(less)ness of particular modes of repetition, and so on. But somehow, and without warrant in the technical debates, one gains a sense of Gould fusing his soul with Bach’s through the medium of music. It is the feeling in these performances that is so undeniable.

If the great Johann Sebastian returned today I’m sure he would have some difficulty identifying Gould’s renditions in anything like the terms he put together the originals (inaccessible as those remain for us today). But I suspect he would still love what he heard and recognise his score as having been filtered lovingly through the hands of another, quite different master.

For less than the cost of many single discs these days, here is a real treasure.