Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Goldberg Variations BWV988
Daniel Barenboim (piano)
rec. 1992, Bavaria Musikstudios, Munich
TV Format NTSC 16:9, Sound PCM Stereo, Language (bonus) English,
Region Code 0 (Worldwide)
EUROARTS DVD 2066778 [100:00]
Barenboim recorded the Goldberg Variations on CD at a performance
given in the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires in October 1989 [Erato/WEA
229245468-4]. This DVD doesn't document that performance: it
comes from a later studio performance from Bavarian Music
Studios in Munich in 1992. The salient features however remain.
The unshowy, direct camera work allows one access to Barenboim's
impressive mechanism. Thus we can see him 'front on' or, often,
from beneath the keyboard as it were, looking up at him in action,
the better to focus on the weight and deployment of his fingers.
This is important because in this work he has invariably sought
to employ the modern piano's full range of tone and weight.
He doesn't countenance any harpsichord imitation - doubtless
he would retort that if you want to turn a piano into a harpsichord
you should play the harpsichord in the first place. Thus if
you seek the dynamism and clarity of erstwhile famous practitioners
(let's say, without surprise, Glenn Gould) you will be looking
in the wrong place. Yet Barenboim doesn't also much resemble
performers like Schiff or Perahia either. Barenboim's aesthetic
is richer, more cushioned, less concerned with revealing contrapuntal
lines and rather more overtly in bringing romanticised characterisation
to each variation. To this end he plays the repeats but seldom
varies the playing, shying away from ornamentation. The promotion
of colour, timbral depth, and strong use of the pedal is allied
to an occasional use of what I'd call the cadential rubato school
of pianism where rallentandi meets the honeyed tone of the old
school musician.
Barenboim's refusal to indulge is in many respects laudable
but the effect, to those yet to hear him in the work, is one
of unalloyed indulgence of the full range of the modern piano.
It's an orchestral approach, one that summons up high trumpets
and oboes, as much as cellos and basses. Within these clear
aesthetic parameters, the performance can be savoured as a technically
assured and convincing examination of a rich sound world. To
those unsympathetic to this Furtwänglerisation of the variations,
this approach will remain unconvincing. Taking the great Black
Pearl variation to nine minutes, imposing flirtatious little
trills elsewhere, solidly thumping or comically answering contrapuntal
lines, rolling chords at the end of the last variation and holding
down the pedal for the aria da capo - these are some
of the corollaries of Barenboim's approach. In an eight-minute
bonus he talks of the illusionary quality of the piano to conjure
sound worlds such as the ones outlined above. It is a manifesto
of sorts and explains his approach to the work, and the rhythmic
freedom and timbral breadth that he finds in - some would say
imposes on - the variations.
Jonathan Woolf
Unalloyed indulgence in the full range of the modern piano.
Masterwork Index: Goldberg Variations