Complete recordings of great works such as Bach’s sonatas, his “Well-Tempered Clavier,” or Chopin’s “24 Preludes” occupy a unique place within the history of musical recording. It’s in their entirety that they are most unique and powerful, whereas in the purity of their repertoire, individual pieces are generally regarded as being largely heterogeneous. These timeless compositions transcend their authors and are given new life with each interpretation, and such is the case with Bach’s “Goldberg Variations.” Published in 1741, as the fourth and last part of his Clavier-Übung, the “Goldberg Variations” still remain, almost 300 years later, amongst the baroque master’s most important works, not only for the history of musical composition and recording in general (Glenn Gould, Trevor Pinnock, Rosalyn Tureck, and many others come to mind), but also for Víkingur Ólafsson in particular. “I’ve been dreaming of recording this work for 25 years,” says the Icelandic pianist, thus confirming that these studies are more a life’s work than a whim.Beginning with a melody that’s simple in appearance, the work is spread over a total of 30 variations, becoming a masterpiece of complexity. Determined, at surface level, by a rigid formal framework, the material itself nevertheless demands a “sort of interpretive improvisation”. Ólafsson recognises this paradox and makes it his own not by interpreting the different variations with technical precision and a strict loyalty to the metronome, but rather by following cyclical impulses and organic interpretation. At the same time, he evolves with the work and transcends it, whether in the creativity of the fugues or the complexity of the different canons, which influence one another, rely on one another, and, finally, like a parabola, return to the first melody and the beginning of all that had transpired previously -  like the ebb and flow of the Icelandic ocean, whose waves we know will always return to shore, but whose calm or strength we can never be sure of. © Lena Germann/Qobuz

One may well wonder why (or whether) a non-keyboard version of Bach's Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, arguably at the apex of the entire tradition of keyboard music, is at all needed. However, Baroque violinist Rachel Podger and Brecon Baroque member Chad Kelly, who "reimagined" the work (arranged is not a strong enough word), offer several justifications for their deployment of the Variations across various kinds of chamber music here. "Despite what many respected and respectful commentators have propagated," Kelly says, "it is not a sacrosanct work of pure, absolute and abstract art." Kelly seeks to use the varied settings to clarify Bach's counterpoint, to examine the musical influences that were in the air when Bach wrote the work, and to "be idiomatic to the historical instruments used in its performance and to the individual styles and genres referenced in the work." All this involves rewriting certain passages. That is a lot to ask, but generally, Kelly and Podger make it work. There are just 18 tracks, with several variations often combined into a little suite. This tends to deemphasize the tripartite structure of the variations, with a canon every third variation. Listeners can make up their own mind about that, but most will be impressed enough by the smooth Baroque winds in the slower variations, especially the crucial Adagio Variation 26, that they will be won over by this unorthodox effort. This release made classical best-seller charts in the autumn of 2023.© James Manheim /TiVo

To record the Golberg Variations, the absolute pinnacle of western works on harpsichord and the apotheosis of the Baroque era, is the ultimate dream for many musicians. Lang Lang, who admits to have studied the fourth section of the Clavierübung by the Cantor of Leipzig for over twenty years, is no exception. This collection offers two interpretations of the same work. Firstly, a studio version, captured beautifully at the Berlin Jesus-Christus Kirche in March 2020 under the supervision of Christopher Alder, in which Lang Lang displays more measured tempos, particularly in the the initial aria and the first variation. This approach begins to animate itself more in the next section before the first variation in G minor which is slow, sluggish-sounding and unrelenting, taking on a stubborn and repetitive saraband rhythm - a remarkable conclusion to the first section. The outburst of the French Ouverture of Variation 16 is nothing short of spectacular. The following variations pass quickly before the second variation in G minor (Var. 21, Conone alla Settima.), with its very depressive phrasing, an imaginary Tombeau which momentarily instills an impressive gravity. Lang Lang nevertheless remains indifferent to the intrinsic structure of the Goldberg Variations, organised into ten successive groups of three variations with each group finishing with an increasingly complex canon (from the Var. 3’s Canone all’Unisono to Var.27’s Canone all Nona). For the Chinese pianist, his expressive heart seems to concentrate on the three minor key variations, and he doesn’t hesitate to project a Baroque expressionism that finishes the Golbergs with a touch of pathos and romanticism alongside a rounded and silky sound.The energy of the Leipzig public, on the 5 of March 2020, adds a welcome characteristic. During the concert, recorded by Philip Krause, who also accompanied Alder during his studio recording, Lang Lang has fun with the polyphony, beginning with the Aria. Here, he dances and injects subtle variations into the accents, thus opening up a wider and more diverse field of expression (Var. 1, Var. 7). Mischievous (Variation 23 has 2 harpsichords!), Lang Lang lets his imagination run rampant and the emotion that ensues is truly striking (Var. 21, with its obsessive delays). A certain weight is lifted, even in the way the harpsichord sounds, which bears witness to how the Chinese pianist’s sound has changed over the last fifteen years. © Pierre-Yves Lascar/Qobuz

Many concepts have been applied to the playing of Bach's Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, on the piano rather than the harpsichord for which it was originally composed. There are readings that attempt to restrict the piano's dynamic ambit to keep it close to that of a harpsichord, those that go full-on Romantic, and monumental takes that recognize the sheer unprecedented scope of the work. Fewer, though, are those that recognize the original story of the work's origin, recounted by Bach's early biographer Forkel: a Russian ambassador in Saxony, named Kaiserling, had trouble sleeping and prevailed upon a young pianist named Goldberg to serenade him to the land of dreams with a harpsichord, asking Bach to compose something for these sessions. The tale has been widely disbelieved, but there is no reason to suppose that quiet, intimate Goldberg Variations are any less valid than an epic one. That's what's here from German pianist Lars Vogt, who manages the neat trick of delivering a truly pianistic interpretation without turning it into a Romantic one. He does so by keeping the volume low throughout and by reining in the temptation to make the big minor-key variations at the middle and end into anguished dissonant cries. Instead they are moderate in tempo and quietly dreamy, to delightful effect, and one might indeed imagine the insomniac Russian count drifting off to them. In general Vogt's treatment is straightforward, with nothing brought so far to the fore that it would interfere with the considerable contrapuntal detail that emerges naturally from the individual variations. With excellent engineering from Ondine, working in the Deutschlandfunk Chamber Music Studio in Cologne, this is a highly recommended tonic to grandiose Goldberg Variations played on whatever instruments.© TiVo

Composer Józef Koffler was the first Polish champion of Schoenberg's 12-tone system and a modernist whose work, based on this fascinating transcription of Bach's Goldberg Variations for harpsichord, BWV 988, is likely to be worth further investigation. He ran afoul of Stalin's Soviet Union and then, worse, of the Germans when they took over Poland, and he disappeared in the Holocaust. The Goldberg arrangement, composed in 1938, was perhaps intended as something palatable to Soviet conservatives, but it is in no way done by the numbers. For one thing, when Koffler composed the work, the Goldberg Variations were quite new in the public consciousness; they had received their first recording, from harpsichordist Wanda Landowska, just five years earlier. Koffler's version, for a small orchestra of strings and winds, was forgotten and was premiered only in 2019, by many of the forces on this recording: it is extremely artfully done. Koffler deploys his ensemble, generally speaking, in three different ways: with the strings taking Bach's melody line, with wind-and-strings atomization of the melody, and with counterpoint mainly in the winds. He is inspired by the broadly tripartite structure of the variations, with canons mostly making up every third variation, but he departs from this where Bach does, and the entire set retains the unity and growth of the original, with complexity and expressivity growing as if inevitably as the music proceeds. The work would make an ideal complement in concert to Anton Webern's arrangement of the fugue from Bach's Musical Offering, BWV 1079. Historical performance veteran Trevor Pinnock leads a mixed ensemble of young musicians, consisting of members of the Royal Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble and students at the Glenn Gould School in Canada, and they play with precision and a fine edge. The Linn label delivers superbly detailed sound from the Britten Studio in Snape Maltings, UK, and the album graphics, showing a Chagall-like shtetl painting by the similarly doomed artist Chara Kowalska, are haunting. A unique release, fully deserving of the commercial success it has received.© TiVo

Acclaimed for his recordings of the organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Rübsam has also recorded some of Bach's keyboard music at the piano, though this 2018 Naxos album of the Goldberg Variations (Clavier Übung IV), BWV 988 is his first recording on a Lautenwerk or lute-harpsichord. The instrument was built for Rübsam by Keith Hill, following period specifications, and this modern copy offers crisp Baroque sonorities that permit the freely played melody and counterpoint to be heard clearly. The single-manual instrument's gut strings provide two timbres, and a set of brass strings provide sympathetic vibration to the rather dry plucked sound, giving it the ringing quality needed for cantabile playing. Rübsam also plays up the lute effect by articulating the voices with slight arpeggiation, which also gives a looser, nearly improvisational feeling to the voice leading and embellishments. Because the Goldberg Variations have been transcribed and arranged for many instruments and various combinations, this release may seem yet another attempt to bring novelty to an overly familiar chestnut. But Rübsam's unerring instincts and consummate artistry make this performance much greater than a gimmick, and listeners who prefer hearing the variations on a harpsichord will find the Lautenwerk to be a refreshing source for new ideas and expressions. Highly recommended. © TiVo

David Fray, returning to his beloved Johann Sebastian Bach, invites us to join him on a salutary personal journey. His Goldberg Variations is unlike any other: their romanticised aesthetic reveals the French pianist’s desire to bring to life the architectural perfection of the thirty-two pieces. He boldly opts for strong contrasts of tempo, accents and phrasing which might sound more at home in more contemporary works. Here, each variation is a part of a whole, but always self-sufficient, too. David Fray constantly plays on this tension between the fleeting pleasure of the moment and the final resolution, the infinite: and all the while, he is seeking to identify a character, a feeling, that can define each of the pieces. He does not hesitate to take us deep into the expressive meanderings that the Leipzig Cantor worked into these variations. The result is a rich and exciting vision, which will undoubtedly resonate with the listener's own shifting and changing moods.It should be emphasised that this performance is marked by astonishingly precise piano playing, in the attacks and chosen articulations of the pianist. Take, for example, the airy Var. 26 or the agility of Var. 29. Or, again, the Fughetta of Var. 10, or Var. 8, with its clear differences in articulation between exposition and reprise, and it's very subtle accelerations. The Cantor’s dense and complex polyphony shines through at every turn. The rhythmic patterns are also more varied, as if David Fray was trying to find a little dance in each passage, rather like Scarlatti in his 30 Essercizi per gravicembalo, or to reveal more fully the spirit of improvisation that may have guided the composition. The long and unusual resonance between the final Quodlibet and the return of the Aria convinces us of the uniqueness of this new version of the Goldberg Variations, performed in Barbazan-Debat at the beginning of June 2021, not far from the Pyrenees National Park, and rendered all the greater by Jean-Marc Laisné's spellbinding sound recording © Pierre-Yves Lascar/Qobuz

The Bach performances of harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani are never boring and often fascinating. He has a way of using his instrument, here a contemporary version of a 1710 Thuringian harpsichord, to evoke a wide range of extramusical associations, and during a live performance of the Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, he offered as an encore not another piece of music but a reading from Horace. One may be forgiven for thinking that this much-anticipated Goldberg Variations recording, released as Esfahani began a five-year traversal of Bach's music at London's Wigmore Hall, gets away from him a bit even as it displays the utterly distinctive thinking of the performer. Start with the booklet, where Esfahani begins with a pointless defense of the veracity of Johann Nikolaus Forkel's account of the sleepless Russian Count Goldberg that gave the variations their name: Bach was said to have been asked to write variations that were then requested by the Count at his bedtime, presumably singly. The grand conceptions of the individual variations, explored by Esfahani in the booklet and excitingly realized at the keyboard, might be thought more likely to jolt the Count awake than to put him to sleep, and in general this is a Goldberg Variations that impresses more in its individual parts than in the whole. Esfahani speaks disdainfully of numerological interpretations of the score, which is perhaps understandable, but balance is as much a part of the score as distinctive evocative detail, and it gets lost in Esfahani's interpretation. Sample Variation 24, the canon at the octave, which Esfahani likens to "the grand ensemble of horns and strings" at the beginning of the Cantata No. 65, "Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen," BWV 65: it may be ringing and stirring, but it is less clearly linked to its surroundings, to say nothing of the snoozing Goldberg, than one would like. Nevertheless, for bold thinking on the harpsichord, Esfahani can't be beat; he may be slightly better live than on recordings, and this is certainly a major new statement concerning the Goldberg Variations.© TiVo