11 ms·
The Open Goldberg Variations
- threatofrain 6y agoGlenn Gould's interpretation might be the most famous, and is worth a listen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwas_7H5KUs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwas_7H5KUs (1955) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEkXet4WX_c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEkXet4WX_c (1981)
- chewxy 6y agoOn days you would like to hear humming along and someone else thoroughly enjoying the music, I agree with Glen Gould
- Synaesthesia 6y agoGotta love the tempo of that 1981 theme, so slow, so stately
- freetime2 6y agoThose really are wonderful. The video in the 1981 performance really adds to the experience, I think. Thanks for the link!
- chewxy 6y agoWhy isn't the Goldberg Variations already open/public domain? Bach has been dead for a very very very long time.
- Barrin92 6y agoThis is a public domain version of the recording. The sheet music itself is and has been in the public domain for a long time.
- dhosek 6y agoIt'd be nice to have a version recorded on harpsichord instead of piano.
- Synaesthesia 6y agoI love a harpsichord sound. My favourite performer is Trevor Pinnock. Just about everything he’s put out is awesome
- Accacin 6y agoCheck out Jean Rondeau’s version recorded on the harpsichord. It’s honestly beautiful and the Goldberg Variations is one of my favourite pieces of music. It’s on YouTube :)
- FraKtus 6y agoThere is nothing like the clarity of the harpsichord sound. Especially for music that can have that many details to listen. I am a big fan of Scott Ross. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDGQSRpLIJk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDGQSRpLIJk Spent countless hours to listen to his Scarlatti recordings :-)
- scop 6y agohttps://music.apple.com/us/album/bach-goldberg-variations-bwv-988/1327895959 https://music.apple.com/us/album/bach-goldberg-variations-bw... I tend to be very disappointed by the majority of piano transcriptions of Bach’s keyboard works, which is understandable since the piano and harpsichord are so very different. Outside of Gould’s, who played much like a harpsichord, the above album is the most moving and fascinating piano transcription of Goldberg that I have heard. There are several parts of interpretation that would normally make me yell “heresy”, but Ji-Yong’s interpretations really bring the piece out in a way fully fit for piano. Check it out!
- yarnover 6y agoYou might enjoy Stephen Malin's YouTube channel where he animates the notes of a piece. He uses some of her Bach playing, and, tangentially, he has been releasing animations of the two- and three-part inventions and I quite like the interpretations.
- robertDouglass 6y agoStephen Malinowski's videos of Kimiko Ishizaka's Art of the Fugue recording are breathtaking. He understands the structure of the music much the same way that Kimiko does, and it reflects in how he delineates the voices and the themes. He also gave a spectacular treatment to her completion of the unfinished final fugue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIrNDWqANCs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIrNDWqANCs
- atombender 6y agoMy main quibble with modern performances like this (my personal favourite is Murray Perahia's) is the sometimes ridiculous level of rubato injected into performances. It's a modern (well, 19th century) invention, and not reflective of how music was performed in Bach's day, as far as I know. To modern ears, a rubato-less performance would sound much more rigid, less expressive, and less emotive (particularly with Bach, whose music is often described as "mathematical"), especially when played on the original harpsichord. Compare Gould's with, say, the recordings of Karl Richter. You find the same thing in all modern interpretations of older music, filtered through modern lenses. Bach isn't Chopin, though it can of course also sound beautiful when played that way.
- User23 6y agoIf I had a time machine watching a live JS Bach recital would be near the top of my list of things to do. It’s wonderful to see a talented musician make this work more accessible.
- byronr 6y agoOne of the eyewitnesses to Bach's playing was Constantin Bellermann. (chronicled in the Bach Reader) Bellermann wrote about a pedal solo that Bach played: he “ran over the pedals so quickly that his feet appeared winged, with a thundering fullness of sound, and penetrated the ears of the listeners like a bolt of lightning”, and that he “was admired in amazement” by Prince Frederick van Hessen. The prince removed a jewelled ring from his hand on the spot and gave it to Bach. If he had earned that just with the speed of his feet, wondered Bellermann, what would the prince have given him if Bach had used his hands as well?
- jacquesm 6y agoThere is a German lady called Barbara Dennerlein that is a bit like that, her footwork is nothing short of amazing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Dennerlein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Dennerlein There are some youtube videos of her playing jazz.
- flyinghamster 6y agoI saw her in Chicago in 2009, playing the pipe organ at the Rockefeller Chapel, in a wonderful but utterly poorly-promoted performance. The audience was tiny for such a magnificent space, and I thought it a crying shame. It's hard to think of a pipe organ as a jazz instrument, but then again, any instrument is a jazz instrument.
- scop 6y agoJS Bach is without a doubt the man I would most want to meet, interview, view perform, etc. It is hard to put into words, but his music is just inexhaustibly deep, challenging, joyful, profound, etc. in any given week I will spend some time listening to some modern band, maybe dabble in Beethoven symphony or two for a few hours, get pulled into a Stevie Wonder album, but I always, without fail, return to Bach. He is literally the “sun” in my little galaxy of music; all rotates around him and no matter where I am in a given day, I may just cut what I’m listening to short and put on some Bach. I struggle to think of anything that engages my analytical brain and artful soul so fully and simultaneously. How the hell did he do it?!
- artistsvoid 6y agoTo anyone wondering: public domain? Bach has been dead for how long? Of course there are already some available (recordings, and sheet music of course), a great database is: https://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page https://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page I do not want to denounce the efforts made though. Anything which makes these works more accessible is welcome. The Goldberg Variations are beautiful. Most famous recordings probably the two by Glenn Gould. There is even an interview in which they explore the differences between the two, and Gould opens up about some decisions he has made and why. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaLoegXPpyk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaLoegXPpyk It's worth listening to, also to explore the Goldberg Variations a little bit in general. It also gives you a sense of Gould's "quirky wit". It's likely it was completely scripted by Gould in advance. There are of course many recordings of the Goldberg Variations, partial list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldberg_Variations_discography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldberg_Variations_discograph... Both of Gould's interpretations aren't in any way "standard interpretations". Fun fact: I was so used to listening to Gould's Bach interpretations back then, I immediately emulated his style when playing Bach, which my piano teacher found really annoying.
- FreeFull 6y agoBach's work is in the public domain, which means anyone can make their own recording. But, any recording of Bach's works will still automatically have its own copyright, unless it's intentionally dedicated to the public domain too. The great thing about a public domain recording is that anyone can take it and use in any sort of artistic or even non-artistic endeavour, without having to worry about the usual "Contact the copyright owner, hope they will grant you a license that's not too expensive."
- markvdb 6y agoIn a lot of jurisdictions, the same goes for the actual sheet music. Even a lot of facsimile editions - literally photos- of the sheet music claim copyright to the "creative work" embedded in making the photo. The result being that in many jurisdictions, you'll have difficulties finding public domain sheet music of obviously public domain music for which it is clear (the longest living) composer died over 70 years ago.
- ssttoo 6y agoSide track: can we talk about MuseScore (mentioned in the article as the collaborator of the effort)? MuseScore is a notation software, an open-source alternative to Sibelius and Finale (and now Dorico). Teachers (at the two colleges I take classes at) still dismiss it as not-worthy of comparison although in my music and composition learning I have not found anything I cannot accomplish with it. Maybe I’ll eventually find out its limitations but to suggest to new students to buy a “professional” notation software for $600 (or $30/month) as opposed to $0 is questionable in my opinion.
- Synaesthesia 6y agoYeah Sibelius just dominated for so long that people got used to it. I see Logic Pro also does notation.
- Tokkemon 6y agoLogic Pro's notation is horrid though. That's not why you would use it.
- coldcode 6y agoSibelius was originally a brilliant piece of software until it was bought by Avid and the entire UI turned into utter trash. I haven't touched it since. I also bought Finale when it first came out (was in a demo session at the MacWorld where it came out, sitting next to me was Wendy Carlos) and that was the worst piece of software ever written which is why I switched to Sibelius when it first came out. Maybe both are better now, but my minimal needs of today are fine with MuseScore.
- enriquto 6y agoBut what's the problem with teachers "recommendations". Can't you still use musescore (or, better, lilypond) for your homework?
- Tokkemon 6y agoProfessional Music Engraver here. It has a long way to go to be comparable. It requires so much work to get the scores into a usable state that almost no one in the professional sphere uses it. Sure, it would be lovely to have an open source notation engine (and we have a much better one in Lilypond, it's just not user-friendly at all), but to develop that would take a huge amount of effort and have tons of expertise behind it, which the project currently does not have. So much of the quality of this kind of work is tied to the user and their skills in what constitutes "good" engraving. For most novices, this is a non-concern, which is why Musescore has taken off, since it provides a great entry-level tool for most musicians to make scores. But it doesn't hold up when doing more professional and/or complex work.
- Yen 6y agoI don't have a great deal of experience with classical music. That said, I have this same pianist's album of Well-Tempered Clavier, and I think it's quite nice. (https://music.kimiko-piano.com/track/prelude-no-1-in-c-major-bwv-846 https://music.kimiko-piano.com/track/prelude-no-1-in-c-major..., for example)
- kkylin 6y agoAs much as I love Gould's recordings, this one made me hear something new. Thank you!
- anacleto 6y ago> [..] to create a public domain recording and score of J.S. Bach's masterpiece Very few realizes it but before Gould the Goldberg Variations were very little known even to professional pianists. Given how old the GB variations are compared to when they found success, it's like Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes winning a best seller prize in 2020.
- robertDouglass 6y agoHi! I produced this recording and project, and it's so nice to see it on the front page of Hacker News this morning. Let's talk about Kimiko Ishizaka, the pianist. She always insists on standing in the background, letting her projects be about Bach, and public domain, while she quietly delivers the most stunning performances of these works that one can imagine. Kimiko is German-Japanese. She grew up performing in a trio with her brothers who are also both notable classical musicians in Germany. In addition to the Goldberg Variations, she has recorded the Well-Tempered Clavier I (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPHIZw7HZq4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPHIZw7HZq4), and The Art of the Fugue (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIrNDWqANCs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIrNDWqANCs) and released them into the public domain as well. Then, in 2019, she did something completely new and released an album of her own, jazz-inspired compositions for solo piano called New Me! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph35hLwcckY&list=PLeWVBqJrTS7fVZoVreWC0LN3G2EePa2op https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph35hLwcckY&list=PLeWVBqJrTS...). She continues studying Jazz and is composing a cycle of songs (pop-jazz), and a series of ragtime pieces for piano. Kimiko is very athletic, and has placed in the top-3 at the German nationals in both powelifting and olympic weightlifting. She has a room in her house which functions both as a piano practice room, and a gym. It is painted pink and decorated with Hello Kitty, because, well, she's a half-Japanese girl who loves Hello Kitty =) The most amazing thing of all just happened to Kimiko, however. She gave birth to a beautiful son (https://twitter.com/KimikoIshizaka/status/1275072853759496194 https://twitter.com/KimikoIshizaka/status/127507285375949619...), just 5 days ago.
- jacquesm 6y agoThank you for this project and for putting the spotlight on this pianist. I listened to 'the new me' and it is very interesting how she did that and yet somehow there is a bit of Bach shining through here and there.
- robertDouglass 6y agoIndeed! Especially in Blues Variations, which is - like the Golderg Variations - a theme-and-variation form. But like the WTC and AoF, it ends in a 4 voice fugue. All on a blues theme =)
- jwr 6y agoIshizaka-san's performance is excellent, I highly recommend this recording. Yes, most people will tell you about how the Gould recordings are "the best" — but before you agree, listen to this. In my opinion, the Gould recordings are very interesting, but I really prefer this performance.
- machrider 6y agoIf you like this sort of thing, you should also check out the Netherlands Bach Society [1] on Youtube. They've been producing incredible renditions of Bach works and sharing them freely for a while. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2kF6qdHRTM_hDYfEmzkS9w https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2kF6qdHRTM_hDYfEmzkS9w
- bjourne 6y agoSince the score is available, couldn't a modern synthesizer produce a pretty good version of the composition?
- jacquesm 6y agoIt would be fairly dead, even on a real piano. If you recorded a real (good) pianist playing the same piece using a piano with a sensor bar the result could be played back and would actually be quite nice to listen to. But to go straight from score -> midi -> audio will not give an interpretation that will be very interesting. If you want I can record a piece that you pick on the midi player piano that I just completed so that you can see firsthand what the effect would be. Let me know.
- robertDouglass 6y agoThe Open Goldberg Variations were recorded on a piano that has a self-playing function. When nearby construction interrupted the recording process with outside noise, we had the piano repeat the takes so that we would still have them, and here's a video of that happening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHipuHxYfjU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHipuHxYfjU
- jacquesm 6y agoWow, that's one very nice tool. Here is my variation on that theme, output only: https://jacquesmattheij.com/midi-fied-baby-grand-piano/ https://jacquesmattheij.com/midi-fied-baby-grand-piano/ The input side is 'work in progress'. Not quite a Bosendorfer, but then again that would be totally wasted on me anyway. Do you allow those midi files to be downloaded as well? That would be a priceless resource.
- robertDouglass 6y agoI have the .boe files somewhere. They're a proprietary version of MIDI that Boesendorfer developed. If you want them, I can find them and send them. robert@opengoldbergvariations.org
- a3_nm 6y agoThis is a super cool project, but downloading the tracks require giving an email address and subscribing to a newsletter. Fortunately, as the work is public domain, we can all re-host it as we want. :) In case that's helpful, here's a direct download link to the FLAC version (1.3 GB) downloaded from Bandcamp: http://dl.free.fr/lZnLnrdJ9 http://dl.free.fr/lZnLnrdJ9 (The link is re-hosted on a free service by a French ISP. The link will expire after 30 days without any download.)
- robertDouglass 6y agoAll true and good points. The mailing list in question is controlled exclusively by myself and Kimiko Ishizaka and is only used to announce new projects by Kimiko.
- dwighttk 6y ago(2012)
- ohthehugemanate 6y agoSome historical context might help: when this recording was released, the copyright lobby was still issuing takedown requests and blocking views on YouTube videos and websites. So in some jurisdictions this recording was the only one easily available to use. Also, the open source and digital first nature of the transcription - the first high quality transcription in musicXML - meant that this project enabled lots of "downstream" projects, such as the first braille edition of the Goldberg variations. Just because a piece is public domain doesn't mean it is accessible!
- danielharan 6y agoThe Braille example really establishes the importance of that context for me. Thank you!
- jancsika 6y agoDoes anyone know any piano performances of 1600s-style improvisations on top of the Goldberg bassline? It's strange because I hear Church organists who improvise all the time-- everything from hymn chord substitutions to fugal treatments of a tune in Bach's style. But I rarely have heard pianists doing that kind of thing.
- achr2 6y agoIt's really beautiful, and such a wonderful project. I must say though that I always have a hard time not hearing the differences (mostly in timing) to the Gould recordings (55 being my go-to). Thank you for sharing!