Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-?bung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Aria da capo
Rosalyn Tureck's Goldbergs are brilliant but curious. Her phrasing is sometimes artificial, studied, and pedantic. Yet she can spin out the minor key variations with a liquid legato and noble flexibility that harkens back ... more »to the great Romantic players. Tureck has a brain in every finger, though, and a singular temperament that compels you to listen. This live 1982 recording is a case in point. --Jed Distler« less
Rosalyn Tureck's Goldbergs are brilliant but curious. Her phrasing is sometimes artificial, studied, and pedantic. Yet she can spin out the minor key variations with a liquid legato and noble flexibility that harkens back to the great Romantic players. Tureck has a brain in every finger, though, and a singular temperament that compels you to listen. This live 1982 recording is a case in point. --Jed Distler
"Like several of the previous reviewers, I have collected numerous versions of the Goldberg Variation (including three of the Tureck performances), this being my favorite piece of music in the universe. To my mind, this live performance recorded in the 80's is without a doubt, the best ever Goldberg. Like all other Tureck performances, there is extraordinary authority, integrity, and a sense of inevitability. Unlike some of her earlier and later versions, there is also is this version tremendous spontaneity and naturalness, and most of all, a sense of profound joy. The supposedly popular recordings (e.g., by Gould or Perahia) are simply not in the same league."
This is not one of the best, but the very best performance.
07/31/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"She deserves the highest praise for her interpretation, character, as well as her perfection in the combination of sonority and touch that is almost divine."
Essential
08/26/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"A gift for melodic expression and an unerring sense of rhythm make Tureck's the most satisfying of currently available Goldbergs. Not as intellectually pioneering as either of the Gould sets, this is nonetheless the most overtly beautiful of all, calling to mind Schiff at his most expressive.
Very strong competition from all the other famous sets, but this one has a little more heart and song. In any case, to reasonably appreciate any one set, comparison is essential and one needs 3 or 4 of the great versions - at least. The lucky ones will include this among them."
Very Special Indeed
10/31/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"As a pianist and listener of every version of the Goldberg Variations that I can find, Roslyn Tureck's version possesses an emotional quality that is ineffable and unmatched by any standard. The sheer simplicity of her peformance far overwhelms any other pianist's desire to perform by technical wizardry. She serves the music alone, not herself or her anudience, and that is the highest praise any performer can earn.Dinu Lipatti with his magical performance of 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desering' (arr. myra Hess) is also elevated to this level of playing as Rosalyn Tureck's. The comment of Myra Hess about Lipatti's performance of 'Jesu, ...' that it is three minutes of musical bliss, applies to Tureck's performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations."
I was wrong! This cd is top notch and deserves 5 stars!
06/11/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I should have listened to this recording a second time before reviewing it last week. It's true that I was put off a little by the pace the first time I heard it, but a subsequent hearing convinced me that this is one of the very finest Bach recordings I have ever heard. What it has besides skill and taste is character. I expect to play this frequently in the comming months."