The pianist Alexandre Tharaud reportedly withdrew for months from concert life to prepare for this recording of Bach's monumental Goldberg Variations, BWV 988. His efforts are evident in the performance, in which every variation has some carefully considered turn. What keeps the performance from seeming fussy is Tharaud's attention to overall architecture, which is original and even bold. He is circumspect in the earlier variations, playing precisely and a bit deliberately. The work's climaxes come not in the slow variations in the later part of the work, which here are more nocturnes than mysterious oracles that seek to break on through to the other side, but in the faster variations, whose increasing contrapuntal density is unerringly detailed and spun into colors of deeper brilliance. It's hard to pick out one variation that gives the flavor of a performance as well-woven as this one, but sample the later canons, where Tharaud's left hand radiates forth brilliantly. Fine sound from Erato/Warner Classics engineers, working at the Aix-en-Provence Conservatory, is a major attraction, as is the presence of a DVD that shows Tharaud's intense concentration memorably. A major breakthrough for this artist, and a worthwhile Goldberg Variations by any standard.
© TiVo