Customer Reviews

Bach: The Three Sonatas for Viola da Gamba & Harpsichord

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love Glenn Gould and have been collecting and enjoying his recordings for many years. There are many great, great performances: the Beethoven "Pastorale" Piano Sonata; Bach Goldberg Variations; Brahms Piano Concerto No.1 with Leonard Bernstein; the Brahms Ballades etc. However this may be the finest of them all! Freed from the absolute glare of the solo spotlight and with a great and sensitive partner in Leonard Rose, Gould's intellect, humanity and pianistic genius find a perfect balance. This is a wonderful, life enhancing CD that you may want to listen to every day!

These recordings are the product of finest musical partnership. Gould and Leonard Rose are totally dedicated to the music itself, nothing else matters. That's the impression you get every time you listen to their performance. One of my favourite CDs in entire GG discography. Check also another fine Bach chamber music with another great musician, Jaime Laredo (Bach: Sonatas for Violin & Harpsichord, BWV 1014-1019; Sonatas for Viola da Gamba & Harpsichord, BWV 1027-1029).

You're going to be hard pressed to find a more thought-out, personal and joyful version of these sonatas. It's a celebration of music and a celebration of the genius of Bach and it feels like it has been offered to us by these two great musicians as a personal musical gift. You can feel with every note that these two people were going to do nothing but perform this work with the utmost care, love and attention. The result is an extremely charismatic and original performance that will probably never be matched. A superb recording that I can't recommend enough.

Glenn Gould, Vol 53 - Bach - Viola da Gamba Sonatas
Yea Glenn! I just love to listen to Glenn Gould playing piano & organ. This is an especially beautiful combination of instruments. Anyone who likes Glenn Gould must have this cd in their collection.

Bach: The Three Sonatas for Viola da Gamba & Harpsichord; Rose/Gould

I should have known before I bought this, but I foolishly assumed that a disc titled "Sonatas for Viola de Gamba and Harpsichord" would actually contain recordings of sonatas played on the viola de gamba and harpsichord. Having had a previous recording of these pieces played on the authentic period instruments, (which I thoroughgly enjoyed),I found this recording a profoundly unsatisfactory experience.

Bach wrote these suites for viol de gamba and harpsichord, and those are the instruments upon which they should be played, not a modern cello and concert grand. The balance between the two instruments here is all wrong. The piano is too dominant, and the cello lacks the attack of the older instrument. Having listened once, I'll probably listen once more, but I would bet money that this is a CD that will find its way to a charity shop very soon. It's a perfect illustration of why Bach wrote in one way for the cello and in another for the viola de gamba, two VERY different instruments. The sharpness and precision of the harpsichord is also totally lacking here. Gould should be the accompanist, not the dominant player. This is a definite no-no for me. I'm now looking for a version played on the right instruments as the Master intended.

As with everything that Glenn Gould recorded this one is an absolute treat
Of course these works should be heard on period instruments
but
when you're dealing with a talent this large
don't look a gift-horse in the mouth

I bought this by mistake believing it to be viola and harsichord. When it arrived I was dissapointed to find that infact, it was cello and piano. On playing however I found this superb marriage by two enormously talented individuals; I couldn't stop listening..... Sheer beauty..... I usually ignore suggestions from Amazon but......Thank you Amazon for suggesting it!

Of course anything played by Gould is interesting even if you don't like the performances. Some of these tempi are a bit slow by today's standards and many would prefer these works played on more 'authentic' instruments. But these remain historically valuable performances of great integrity Julian Mincham.

I am pleased to have this recording even if it makes me want to get other versions of these works; the sound very sllghtly
sounds it's age being rather thin - but it is undistorted !

Here we have two superb musicians playing music that they clearly love. It's fine music, if perhaps Bach in workmanlike rather than inspired mode, but you can sense the pleasure that Gould and Rose found in playing it, and you can't help but be carried along with it. A wonderfully relaxing and enjoyable cd.