This Joins Those Goldberg Recordings to Play Again and Again
J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 08/28/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is the first Bach Garrick Ohlsson has ever recorded as far as I know. He's certainly not known for playing Bach in recital, although he did, a few years ago, have a program series that coupled the music of Liszt with other composers and I recall reading that in one of the recitals he played Liszt in the first half and the Goldbergs in the second. His way with the Goldbergs reminds me very much of that of Murray Perahia, with all the elegance and subtlety that implies, but with a greater sense of drama.
Except, and it's a big exception, he does not play any of the repeats. I gather he made this decision in order to give the set greater momentum, but I have to admit that it took me several gasps before I overcame my resistance -- I dug in my heels initially -- to this way of the doing the Goldbergs. The playing, though, won me over. He is just as good in the slower, pensive variations, e.g. No. 25, as he is in the more obviously virtuosic ones, e.g. Nos. 23 and 26. No. 26 is played as fast as I've ever heard it -- it goes like the wind -- and it's extraordinarily clear, leggiero and exciting. This is a very fine Goldbergs.
The short timing of the Goldbergs (46:20) is supplemented by one of the finest performances of Handel's Second Suite in F Major, HWV 427 I've heard since Perahia recorded it, along with all the other suites, a few years ago.
Ohlsson made his mark initially as a Chopinist -- you will recall that he won the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1970 (could it really have been that long ago?) -- and has made his reputation playing High Romantic music primarily, although he does have a very broad repertoire withal. Still, I would never have thought of him as a Bach/Handel player, yet here he proves he can hold his own and without romanticizing the music.
This CD is a treasure.
Scott Morrison"
The Incomparable Mr. Garrick Ohlsson
Vera Kolb | Kenosha, WI | 09/17/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"One is never too young or too old to have yet another middle-life crisis. If you are not having one right now, you definitely should. How much more time do you think you have on this planet? When will you finish listening to all these great recordings if you have not even started yet? The positively heavenly performance of the incomparable Mr. Garrick Ohlsson, in his Bach/Handel CD will give you a needed jump-start. The CD starts with a supremely beautiful performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations. Mr. Ohlsson will miraculously bring out of your soul the music of Bach that you did know was already imprinted there. As you float and glide in the new dimension of the musical space, which Mr. Ohlsson has discovered, you will completely fuse with his performance. In a happy, glorious and unprecedented way you will claim the ownership of every note!
Lewis Thomas, a romantic scientist, writer, and music lover, once wrote that we should send Bach's music pulsating into space so that the aliens would know what our civilization is truly about. Which performers of Bach should we include in this CD for aliens? Mr. Ohlsson should definitely be on!
"
Ohlsson, at home with Bach, Chopin or Prokofiev!
Piano lover Bob | Houston, TX USA | 01/07/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Ohlsson is amazing! We have all heard how poetic, romantic, or grand he can play Chopin, Beethoven, Scriabin or Rachmaninoff, but once again he amazes me with the Goldberg Variations! Bach has composed music that at times conveys an almost spiritual serenity, and Ohlsson acheives that beautiful, calm feeling. In the faster, fleeting cross-handed variations his technique astounds you with its clarity and profound control. I think Ohlsson is at the peak of his enormous gifts.
In hopes that his agent of someone close to him reads this(not likely!!), I have wished for many years that he would record the Bartok 2nd Piano Concerto and the Prokofiev 2nd Piano concerto - I have heard him perform both of these monumental works, and he was overwhelming in both works.
Back to the Bach, all I can say is buy this CD, its wonderful!"
Track Listings (36) - Disc #1