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Published: 2007
Category: Classical
The Goldberg Variations
Johann Sebastian Bach
Video
Glenn Gould (1955)
Glenn Gould (1981)
In 1741, a Russian count who lived in Leipzig had trouble sleeping. To calm his nerves, Count Kaiserling ordered Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, his personal pianist, to play in the next room. And the Count asked Johann Sebastian Bach to provide Goldberg with some clavier pieces --- music that would be soothing but cheerful.
Bach, at the height of his genius, was not about to knock off some insignificant ditties. Instead, he produced what's been described as “the most serious and ambitious composition ever written for harpsichord.”
In form, the piece consists of an aria, thirty variations, and a repeat of the aria. The jaw-dropping achievement? Instead of writing variations on the melody, Bach built the piece by embellishing the ground bass line.
The Count loved Bach's music. “Dear Goldberg,” he would say, “do play me one of my variations.”
Or so the story goes.
The Count claimed ownership --- he had, after all, paid Bach with a golden goblet filled with a hundred gold pieces --- but this work has never been known as the Kaiserling Variations.
For more than two hundred years, it was the Goldberg Variations.
And then, in 1955, the cognoscenti dubbed it the “Gouldberg” Variations.
Glenn Could was a certified prodigy. He could read music when he was just 3 years old and was composing at 5; now, at 22, he was about to make his debut for Columbia Records. His choice of music: The Goldberg Variations. And he'd play them not, as written, but on a piano.
Gould's recording sessions were instant legend. He had astonishing requirements: the right room temperature, the right chair. Before recording, he would soak his hands and arm to the elbows in hot water for twenty minutes. Eccentric? He hummed as he played. He rocked in his chair until it squeaked. But his interpretation was revolutionary: up-tempo, dramatic, technically dazzling.
No pianist has ever been hyped like Gould. Record of the year? Try the decade. But even that was too small. No sooner had Gould's Goldberg Variations been released than critics were calling it one of the century's greatest recordings. And the world agreed: Gould's recording sold and sold and sold.
Decades passed. Gould cemented his legend --- as musician and eccentric. And then, in 1981, the now 50-year-old pianist decided to re-record the Goldberg Variations in the same New York studio that was the setting for his 1955 debut.
Pressed for an explanation, Gould cited the advances in technology: stereo, Dolby. But more to the point, he said, he had listened again to his 1955 recording --- and he'd found it “very nice, but 30 interesting, independent-minded pieces going their own way.” His self-assessment was harsh: His original recording contained "things that pass for expressive fervor in your average conservatory, I guess."
Some critics find Gould's second recording superior: thoughtful, energetic, the interpretation of a mature artist. Others cite technical glitches and phrasing that couldn't be explained as “eccentric”. Clearly, there's no end to debate when the subject is Glenn Gould. But the overarching fact about this 1981 recording overwhelms the critical conversation --- this was Gould's last record. He died just a few weeks after it was released.
Maybe there's something about this particular piece; it seems to welcome drama. Twenty-four years after Gould's recording, a 33-year-old pianist named Nicole Dinnerstein decided to stake her career on the Goldberg Variations. Dinnerstein was the anti-Gould. She hadn't started piano lessons until she was seven. She had no manager, had won no competitions, had no recording contract --- by the standards of the classical music business, she was going nowhere. “I auditioned for festivals, I did the whole thing, and I just never had any luck,” she has said. “I never got past the first round. I do have a particular way of playing, and if you don't like it, you don't like it.”
Give Dinnerstein points for courage: In March of 2005, with the support of friends and family, she recorded the Variations --- on a piano, like Gould. That November, again with private funding, she self-produced a concert of the Variations in a recital room at Carnegie Hall. The New York Times reviewer swooned; a Philadelphia critic urged a record company to release Dinnerstein's recording.
And so it came to pass, in August of 2007, that Simone Dinnerstein and her version of the Goldberg Variations were launched with Gouldean fanfare. Like Gould, she made for great media: She had started playing the Goldberg Variations in earnest as a companion to her pregnancy. Month after month, she worked at it, until there were keys she physically couldn't reach. But in a semi-mystical way, she said, having a son helped her come to an understanding of Bach she might not have otherwise achieved.
It's been simple to position Dinnerstein as an attractive female pianist from Brooklyn who conquered Manhattan. But cutting through the hype, there's plenty to praise --- and debate --- about Dinnerstein's take on Bach. Her approach to the initial aria is so slow it's startling. And she usually plays all the repeats. Her recording runs to 78 minutes; Gould gets it done in 50 or less.
Ah, choices. There are two Gould versions, and a wonderfully remastered set of CDs that includes his 1955 and 1981 recordings, plus a fascinating interview with Gould. There is the Dinnerstein. And, going back, there are several others that have been judged “historic”.
My opinion? Sorry. I'm much more interested in yours --- in the sharpening of intelligence that comes when you compare two of anything. And, of course, I'm of the view that there's no “wrong” choice here. Because to say one version or another of the Goldberg Variations is "better" is to miss the point. This is music --- in any version --- that belongs in every life.
To buy “A State of Wonder: The Complete Goldberg Variations (1955 & 1981)” as recorded by Glenn Gould, with a Gould interview, from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy Glenn Gould's 1955 recording of “The Goldberg Variations” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy Glenn Gould's 1981 recording of “The Goldberg Variations” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy Simone Dinnerstein's 2007 recording of “The Goldberg Variations” from Amazon.com, click here.
For Simone Dinnerstein's web site, click here.
For the Glenn Gould web site, click here.