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Bach: Variations Goldberg / Pierre Hantaï


Release Date: 11/30/1993 
Label:  Naive   Catalog #: 3084   Spars Code: DDD 
Composer:  Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:  Pierre Hantaï
Number of Discs: 1 
Recorded in: Stereo 
Length: 1 Hours 17 Mins. 

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Notes and Editorial Reviews


Opus 111 has repackaged several items from its Bach holdings to celebrate the composer's 250th deathday in 2000. One is the brilliant harpsichordist Pierre Hantaï's 1993 recording of the Goldberg Variations. Taking all the repeats (including the ones in the Aria de capo most players avoid), Hantaï rivets your attention by way of impeccable pacing, purposeful ornamentation, subtle registrations, and a brain in every finger. His wide palettes of articulations enhance the distinction and character of Bach's canonic movements, as well as providing color and contrast. What's more, Hantaï's agogic adjustments always bear elements of surprise as they quietly propel the musical argument forward and up. The Read more crucial 25th Variation is briskly unsentimental here, yet the aria-like right hand lines truly breathe. The engineering is clear and resonant but not too closely miked or unrealistically loud. An absolutely first-class release, worth its weight in Goldbergs.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com Read less

Works on This Recording

1. Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:  Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord)
Period: Baroque 
Written: 1741-1742; Nuremberg, Germany 
 Date of Recording: 06/1992 
Venue:  Doopsgezinde Kerk, Haarlem, Netherlands 
Length: 77 Minutes 26 Secs. 
Notes: Composition written: Nuremberg, Germany (1741 - 1742). 

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