Search - Bach, Weissenberg :: Goldberg Variations

Excitable,sometimes brutal approach

Peter Heddon | 06/07/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While not displacing Gould's 1982 recording Weissenberg is definitely among the more charismatic accounts of this milestone work i've heard on the Piano.

Okay,it's not perfect:Part playing can be a bit blurred,tempi accelerate for 2nd time repeats (why!?)and variation 12 completely lacks definition but who could possibly resist Weissenberg's impetuos variation 5, the toppling cascades of notes in Variation 8,the shrill trills of var.28 or the clangorous intensity of the final variation.In short,my attention didn't waver much.

While Weissenberg's Bach is shown to even better advantage on a DG recording a few years later (Partitas 4,6+Italian Concerto)this is definitely an interesting alternative to the better mannered (but too refined for my liking)approach to be found from Schiff,Perahia etc."