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https://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

by scop 6y ago

https://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 ago
You 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 ago
  Stephen 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 ago
My 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.
- jancsika 6y ago
  "Not reflective of how music was performed in Bach's day" is a data point, not a judgment of quality of an interpretation. If "molto rubato" is a complaint it needs to be followed by an actual criticism. For example-- I remember someone (Kissin?) using "unsuitable" rubato in one of Brahms Paginini Variations. The problem was that it obscured the 2-against-3 texture in that variation. By applying rubato the entire time, that rhythmic drive never gets established and the variation seems less effective for it. (And rhythmic drive is very often central to Brahms' music.) There are costs and there are benefits to any interpretive approach. But I'd be very cautious about going down the "modern lens" rabbit hole. At least for the 20th century, Taruskin persuasively argued that the "authenticity" movement mainly ended up reproducing modernist interpretations of Baroque and Classical period music.
- jacquesm 6y ago
  I think it is a more than fair criticism of many modern pianists of Baroque era music, but let's cut them some slack too: it is entirely valid to re-interpret existing music through a more modern lens (hence the 1000's of covers) and Bach himself saw absolutely no problem with re-interpreting other composers works. Music is both finished product and raw material, a score is much more raw material than finished product. Finally, the original is still available, nothing got lost.

by scop 6y ago

yarnover 6y ago

You 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 ago
Stephen 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 ago

My 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.

jancsika 6y ago
"Not reflective of how music was performed in Bach's day" is a data point, not a judgment of quality of an interpretation. If "molto rubato" is a complaint it needs to be followed by an actual criticism. For example-- I remember someone (Kissin?) using "unsuitable" rubato in one of Brahms Paginini Variations. The problem was that it obscured the 2-against-3 texture in that variation. By applying rubato the entire time, that rhythmic drive never gets established and the variation seems less effective for it. (And rhythmic drive is very often central to Brahms' music.) There are costs and there are benefits to any interpretive approach. But I'd be very cautious about going down the "modern lens" rabbit hole. At least for the 20th century, Taruskin persuasively argued that the "authenticity" movement mainly ended up reproducing modernist interpretations of Baroque and Classical period music.
jacquesm 6y ago
I think it is a more than fair criticism of many modern pianists of Baroque era music, but let's cut them some slack too: it is entirely valid to re-interpret existing music through a more modern lens (hence the 1000's of covers) and Bach himself saw absolutely no problem with re-interpreting other composers works. Music is both finished product and raw material, a score is much more raw material than finished product. Finally, the original is still available, nothing got lost.