J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations
Andras Schiff
ECM Records

Andras Schiff’s ECM Goldbergs are his second set, the first having been recorded some 20 years before for Decca. Both releases are quite excellent, but I suspect that nothing can replace experience, the experience of recording all of Bach’s and Mozart’s major keyboard music before returning to these 33 variations with opening aria and moving on to the monumental Beethoven. It is hard to deny Glenn Gould’s infamous 1955 set, the first recorded on piano, but these are a frenetic, manic fare. When Gould re-recorded the Goldbergs at the end of his life, his performance reflected all that had occurred in 30 years. So is true with Schiff. These ECM Goldbergs are special, like tempered carbon, hard as diamonds yet the product of thoughtful creative consideration, of better yet, a re-consideration of the past before embarking on his recent set of Beethoven’s sonatas.

J.S. Bach: Cello Suites Nos. 1-6
Pablo Casals
Naxos

There are recorded sets of Bach’s Cello Suites that have much better sonics. There are sets that view Bach from the vantage point of Haydn and those from Vivaldi. But Casal’s 1930s set were the first sound recordings to begin the deluge of recordings described above. It was Casal’s scholarship and technical ability that allowed him to resurrect music old and forgotten as Mendelssohn had done 100 years before him with the Master’s St. Matthew Passion. Casal’s suites, beaming in from almost a century ago, define what depth and density mean when applied to the performance of music and the understanding of that performed. This is music of our collective unconscious, part of all of us.