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.
The first published version of Bach’s Goldbergs, soon after its composition, calls the work a keyboard exercise for harpsichord with two manuals. Now more often played on a piano with one manual – as per Ólafsson – this description has never limited other musicians. Guitar? Cimbalons? Saxophone ensemble? All done. The violinist Rachel Podger leads a “new” instrumental version: Bach Goldberg Variations Reimagined (Channel Classics), with the ensemble Brecon Baroque, directed from the harpsichord (double manual) by Chad Kelly, who made the arrangement. Heard “blind”, you might mistake it for an extra Brandenburg concerto – no bad thing. Podger is a supreme baroque player, and this is a bold and different way to think about Bach’s unfathomable genius.
