Even Wikipedia cannot keep up with the bulging catalogue of Bach’s Goldberg Variations (1741) on disc. The long list – the first recording was made in 1933 – includes recent excellent accounts by Igor Levit and Pavel Kolesnikov. Now there’s another: the Icelandic pianist Vikingur Ólafsson (Deutsche Grammophon), who, after studying the work for a quarter of a century, has embarked on 88 concerts of the Goldbergs on six continents, with a recording to coincide. No one can blame him for wanting to inhabit, with brain and fingers, this miraculous work. Ólafsson’s interpretation is outstanding. He plays the same Steinway model D he chose for his Bach (2018) and Debussy/Rameau discs. Supple playing, flexibility in speed and mood, contrapuntal clarity, a singing bass line, an abundance of expression but no intrusive mannerisms: all make this a Goldbergs for repeated listening. The culmination of the 30 variations, especially the finger-flying 29th, provides a fitting climax before the opening aria returns.
