Bach: Goldberg Variations (CD review)

Gustav Leonhardt, harpsichord. Teldec 2564 69853-2.

According to J.S. Bach's first biographer, Nikolaus Forkel, Bach wrote the Goldberg Variations in 1742 for a Count Carl von Keyserlingk, who requested them to be played by his harpsichord protégé, Johann Goldberg. He requested that the pieces be of a soothing yet somewhat lively character as might cheer him up in his sleepless nights. However, authorities doubt the story, since the young Goldberg was only in his early teens at the time, and the Variations are of undoubted complexity.

Whatever the case, the Variations have come down to us in more-or-less nontraditional fashion, seldom even played as Bach intended. For one thing, Bach meant the work at the time for harpsichord (and while there are many fine recordings like this one nowadays on harpsichord, they are outnumbered by the piano renditions). More important, Bach probably meant the Variations to be played selectively, not all at once as is the prevailing custom, especially in recordings.

Gustav Leonhardt, one of the world's leading exponents of the art of the harpsichord, has recorded the Goldberg Variations several times, and I have a another disc of his--from the late 1970's on Harmonia Mundi--to which I compared this earlier, mid '60's Teldec recording. I must admit, though, the differences are of only minor note, and some of them one might attribute to the varying sounds of the harpsichords themselves and the variances in acoustics and recording quality from one session to the other.

In both cases, Leonhardt seems perfectly at ease with the music, playfully toying with the more extroverted parts and maintaining a hushed calm in the more tranquil sections. Nevertheless, one notices a slightly more lively spirit in the 1965 Teldec release, as well as a slightly brighter sound; while in the 1978 Harmonia Mundi recording, Leonhardt seems a bit more relaxed, a bit more expansive, and perhaps a bit more contemplative, with the sound in equal measure a bit mellower. I prefer the Harmonia Mundi disc, actually, but it's almost a toss-up, and both recordings provide the kind of reach-out-and-touch-it feeling that puts the instrument in your living room.

JJP