Search - Pi-hsien Chen :: Bach, J.S.: Goldberg Variations, Bwv 988

A delight

09/11/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I think a lot of good things can be found in this recording: Ms. Pi-Hsien's playing is crystal clear, precise and well articulated. She chooses her tempos well: on the brisk side but not with that ultimate torrent of a Glenn Gould, for instance. Piano tone is limpid and beautiful. Not big, as to fill a concert hall but adequate for the quietness of your home. The instrument sounds not like a grand concert piano, perhaps, but like a smaller one. It may be only the results of her touch but this only adds to the beauty of her performance. One more thing: In some of the variations you can discern three melodic lines at the same time, in three ranges of the keyboard. This, of course, is Bach's genius at writing contrapuntal music but the point is that the performer is perfectly able to deliver the music as the master wrote it. I don't concede five stars to this recording only because there is not that last measure of passion and individuality of, again, a Glenn Gould (who else?) but this recording bears well on repeated auditions and the recording quality is excellent."