Octo_Russ

Bach - Goldberg Variations [Kempff] 

I first listened to the Goldberg Variations through a cassette by Glenn Gould, but was put off by his vocalise moanings, and my benchmark recording was when i bought the disc of Andras Schiff's version on Decca, and i've judged this work with that recording in mind.

Wilhelm Kempff was German, born in 1895, and died in 1991, almost a Centenarian, he recorded this disc in 1969, i love the Goldberg variations, so when i saw this going on Ebay, i bid and won it, i like the way he plays the Beethoven Piano Sonatas, and especially the Archduke Trio.

This is my very first listen to this disc, so i was quite taken aback at how individual Kempff is, he plays this work not with a solemn grandness, but rather with a lighter joyful fun, the opening Aria is played rather fast with an upbeat frolic, the whole work lasts 63 minutes [Schiff takes 72 minutes, and Perahia takes 74], the variations i liked the best from Kempff are 1, 5, 20, 26 & 29, and i'd like to give a brief synopsis of each,

Variation 1 [1:56], the first variation is always good as it jumps out of the theme, and can be quite a pleasant shock to the system, Kempff plays this with a rhythmic precision, and overall joy.

Variation 5 [7:31], a disarming understatement in a way, kempff plays it more quieter than most, but brings out its beauty, again there's the bouncy rhythm there, and the left and right hands are nicely voiced as separate, hearing each idea in each hand.

Variation 20 [35:12], not as dynamic as Schiff, more stately, but testament to Bach, it's such a fantastic variation, that almost everyone sounds interesting when they play it!, and Kempff brings out lots of variety within it too, it must actually be hard to play fast, and not sound garbled, but Schiff achieves it.

Variation 26 [49:23], very regal sounding, Kempff plays things quiet at first, and then slowly increases his passion / volume, nice runs up and down the keyboard, each hand [treble and bass] taking turns to do the running, while the other sings out the staccato tune, must be a nightmare to separate your brain into two and send it half down each arm to your hands!, but Kempff achieves it with aplomb.

Variation 29 [54:37], very staccato and loud at first, it keeps sinking down into the low bass, again it's testament to the genius of Bach in creating such a wealth of variations. 

Here's Wilhelm Kempff playing the Goldberg Variations on YouTube, timings in my synopsis refer to this video, in fact if you click the 'show more' tab beneath the video, it expands and shows clickable access to each of the variations, clever that!.