Variations Goldberg , BWV 988 (Bach, Johann Sebastian)

I am torn between the belder recording or the Gould recording. They are both special in there own way

So I see a lot of elitist piano bois trying desperately to call out the use of harpsichord in the works of Bach, Händel, Scarlatti, etc both when reviewing recordings professionally or simply people commenting on sites such as YouTube and Amazon. To me it seems to be little more than people wanting to justify the reason they don’t like the instrument. The actual reason is of course because they lack the nuts to enjoy the gritty glory of the harpsichord due to general sheltering from musical culture outside of the western romantic period.
So, my opinion is that the piano is obviously the superior instrument overall but neither actually make the other obsolete. To me, the process of writing for Harpsichord and Piano is extremely different. Each have benefits which can be used to create very different textures of music. Piano has is dynamics and the ability to create smooth texture whilst the harpsichord has clarity from it’s sharp quality yet also a variety of layers which can be added and removed to manipulate the texture (typically French ones had the most options).
Now I personally believe that there is always space for Baroque to be recorded on piano but I probably don’t want to listen to it. Why? Because it simply doesn’t sound right for the music. The music was written for the harpsichord and thus the piano sounds oddly forced and cheap. Now, a good player such as Gould could obviously pull of the Goldberg Variations very beautifully on this instrument however, Pincock and Hantaï will always be my favourite for any sort of Baroque music. For reference, have a listen to Hantaï’s work on the Scarlatti Sonatas! It’s so good!!!!
Let’s look at this from another angle. Can you imagine Moonlight Sonata or Nocturne on a Flemish Harpsichord? If someone were to do it they’d likely be reeeeeeeed at for destroying their sexy piano music. However, it’s somehow fine to screw with what Johann Sebastian Bach had in mind for his works?
A very nice and pretty well known piece for Harpsichord would be Händel’s Passacaglia in G minor. I’m sure many of you have seen the movie clip involving Händel and Scarlatti having a dank Harpsichord battle with this piece. Well, if you listen to the piece, it is written very specifically so that the theme can be built upon over time to create a sense of dynamic increase and I suppose due to the actual increase of notes being played at once, it technically would grow louder. The piano wouldn’t need to have music written for it in this style and thus it would almost make the piece feel naked with the lack of natural restriction from the harpsichord.
So let me know what you think about this. Once again, I think both instruments are beautiful and that as composing for them is extremely different, it should not be assumed that they are interchangeable and certainly not assumed that one is obsolete simply due to dynamic limitation and age.
As for me, I’m a 20 year old beginner British composer currently focused on Orchestral Baroque music though I intend to play around in all of the period styles before developing my own voice in contemporary music a little later in life.

I'm in the process of creating a MIDI interpretation of J.S. Bach's Aria with Divers Variations, otherwise known as the Goldberg Variations, and I would like to ask this subreddit how they think this work should be interpreted. Here are some questions for consideration:

• Which recording of the GV is the best for listening? (Harpsichord preferred, but piano is also acceptable.)
  
• Which recording is best for studying?
  
• Should all the repeats (ABAB), some of the repeats (AAB, ABB), or no repeats (AB) be observed?
  
• Tempo: how fast is too fast? How slow is too slow? Are there certain variations that, with too much or too little speed take away from the GV as a whole? 1
  
• This last question is for harpsichordists: How important is registration for the GV? Does it need to blow the listener's mind, or not take away from the work itself?
  

I probably left a few questions out, but those are the ones I wanted to discuss.

I have been getting a bit obsessed with the Goldberg Variations the last week or so, I have listened to it for the past four or five nights. I don't really want to stop, but on the other hand the other several thousand works I want to hear won't listen to themselves.
Most of the recordings I look at take the repeats, any recommendations for recordings (harpsichord or piano) that skip most of them so I can listen to it and get on with my life? I know about Gould '55 and Leonhardt.
Of course I could just listen to Perahia again...

As a pianist/history buff, I find inspiration when I'm learning a piece and I know the history of the piece or maybe the story behind it. I have also found that when I play a piece publicly and I share the story before, it really captures the listeners attention. I think it helps draw people in and gives them a connection to the music in a way.
A quick example I guess is Bach's Goldberg Variation (which I'm learning the Aria right now) written for a musician named Goldberg who was employed for a Russian Count (royalty) The Count was ill and suffering from weeks and months of insomnia and they traveled to see Bach and commissioned him to compose these Variations to be played throughout the night during the Russians sleepless nights.
Now when I play the piece I imagine what it must have been like hearing it reverberating off the stone walls of the castle, up and down the corridors. The sight of Goldberg sitting alone at the Harpsichord under candlelight. Etc.
What are some good stories behind some of your favorite piano repertoire? Please share.

Any suggestions for classical music recordings or pieces that use unusual timbre or instrumentation? Ones that you especially like?
I created this mix recently: https://www.mixcloud.com/syncodrop/unusual-timbre-in-mostly-classical-music/
Here's the tracklist for reference of what I included in this:

1. The Swan (Saint-Saens) - Clara Rockmore //theremin**
2. Song [Excerpt] (Thanos Mikroutsikos) - Gary Burton //vibraphone
3. Lieder- Ich atmet' [I breathed] (Mahler) - Håkan Hagegård & Gunnar Idenstam //organ and voice
4. Suite No. 3: V - Air (Händel) - Glenn Gould //harpsichord but maybe 8va lower?
5. When the Levee Breaks (McCoy & Minnie) - Yat-Kha featuring Albert Kuvezin //mongolian
6. Sygyt - Huun-huur-Tu //throat singing
7. Sarabande-Duel (Händel) - National Philharmonic Orchestra, from Barry Lyndon Soundtrack //arr for timpani etc.
8. Nocturne in G Minor (Chopin) - Ólafur Arnalds, Alice Sara Ott //non-standard 'low fi' recording
9. The Black Page [Solo Piano] (Zappa) - maybe Peter Wolf or Tommy Mars sourced here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXxeOvvNNwc //tape-speed 'low-fi'
10. Children's Song No. 1 (Corea) - Kálmán Balogh, Rózsa Farkas \dulcimers
11. Arabesques: No. 2 in G Major (Debussy) - Agnes Szakaly & Rozsa Farkas \cimbalom dulcimers
12. Arabesques No. 1 (Debussy) - Isao Tomita \purists grave roll but this is not Switched on Bach...
13. Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2: I. Lever du jour (Ravel - arr. G. Idenstam for organ) - Gunnar Idenstam \organ

** won out over https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdDQ4M5Ilzc for wider audiences
I didn't include some Bach on non-standard instrumentation, Goldberg Variations Chris Thile (mandolin) or Caitrin Finch (harp), or cello suites Edgar Meyer (contrabass).
Would love to hear any suggestions, thanks!

Hi:
I love Bach's works, and The Goldberg Variations is probably my most favorite work of his. I was doing some reading on it and I understand it was written for harpsichord - but all the recordings I've been able to find of it are on piano. Is anyone aware of a good recording (CD or digital download preferred) where the artist uses a harpsichord? Thanks!

Keyboard Music

Keyboard music is any music written for solo organ, harpsichord, piano, fortepiano or any other keyboard instrument. For convenience, piano four-hands pieces and works for two pianos have also been included here. Although some works were originally written for one instrument, they can be (and often are) performed on different keyboard instruments. Harpsichord works, for example, are frequently played on the piano, while works originally written on the fortepiano are often played on the modern piano, although the historically informed performance movement has changed this in recent decades.
Below is a list of some of the most important works of the genre, organised alphabetically by era. Particularly important works are highlighted in bold.

Renaissance (c.1400 - c.1600)

• John Bull - Keyboard Works
• John Bull - Organ Works
• Byrd - Keyboard Works
• Cabezón - Tientos y Glosados
• Gibbons - Keyboard Works
• Sweelinck - Harpsichord Works, particularly the Fantasias and Toccatas
• Sweelinck - Organ Works

Baroque (c.1600 - c.1750)

• d'Anglebert - Harpsichord Suites
• JS Bach - The Art of Fugue (this piece has no fixed instrumentation but is often played on a keyboard instrument of some kind)
• JS Bach - The Musical Offering (a collection of pieces, some of which are for keyboard)
• JS Bach - Goldberg Variations
• JS Bach - The Well-Tempered Clavier
• JS Bach - Keyboard Partitas
• JS Bach - French Suites
• JS Bach - English Suites
• JS Bach - Two and three part Inventions
• JS Bach - Toccatas for Harpsichord
• JS Bach - Italian Concerto
• JS Bach - Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue
• JS Bach - Organ Works – particularly BWV 565, 582, 564, 552, 572, 542, 538, 645, 543, 532, 544, 590, 650, 548, 533, 562, 593, 588, 578
• JS Bach - Clavier-Übung III
• JS Bach - Leipzig Chorales
• JS Bach - Schübler Chorales
• JS Bach - Orgelbüchlein
• JS Bach - Trio Sonatas for Organ
• Buxtehude - Organ Works
• Couperin - Pièces de clavecin, particularly Les Barricades Mystérieuses
• Fischer - Pièces de Clavessin
• Frescobaldi- Toccatas
• Frescobaldi- Caprices
• Frescobaldi - Fiori musicali
• Froberger - Harpsichord Suites
• Froberger - Toccatas
• Froberger - Partitas
• Froberger - Fantasia
• Handel - Suites for Harpsichord, particularly No.5
• Pachelbel - Organ Works
• Rameau - Pièces de Clavecin
• Rameau - Pieces de clavecin en concert
• Rameau - Nouvelles Suites for Harpsichord
• Domenico Scarlatti - Keyboard Sonatas – particularly K. 9, 87, 380, 141, 492, 491, 247, 159, 208, 27, 69, 96, 427, 25, 30, 481, 32, 8, 132, 519, 1, 3, 490, 517, 513, 11, 239, 123, 112, 146, 466, and 193
• Seixas - Harpsichord Sonatas
• Trabaci - Keyboard Music

Classical (c.1750 – c.1820)

• CPE Bach - Prussian and Württemberg Keyboard Sonatas
• CPE Bach - La Caroline
• CPE Bach - Solfeggietto
• WF Bach - Fantasias for Keyboard
• WF Bach - Polonaises for Keyboard
• Franz Joseph Haydn - Piano Sonatas, particularly No.62
• Mozart - Piano Sonatas, particularly 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
• Mozart - Sonatas for Two Pianos
• Mozart - Variations on “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman”
• Mozart - Fantasia in D Minor
• Mozart - Fantasia in C Minor
• Soler - Harpsichord Sonatas

Early Romantic (c.1800 – c.1850)

• Beethoven - Piano Sonatas, particularly 8, 14, 15, 17, 21, 23, 26, 29, 30, 31 and 32
• Beethoven - Bagatelles, Op. 119 and Op.126
• Beethoven - Für Elise
• Beethoven - Rondo a Capriccio
• Beethoven - Diabelli Variations
• Beethoven - Eroica Variations (aka Prometheus Variations)
• Beethoven - 32 Variations on an Original Theme
• Beethoven - Fantasy in G Minor, Op.77
• Chopin - Ballades 1, 2, 3 and 4
• Chopin - Études Op.10 and Op.25
• Chopin - Impromptus, particularly Fantasie-Impromptu
• Chopin - Fantasie in F Minor, Op.49
• Chopin - Mazurkas
• Chopin - Nocturnes
• Chopin - Waltzes
• Chopin - Berceuse, Op.57
• Chopin - Barcarolle, Op.60
• Chopin - Scherzos 1, 2, 3 and 4
• Chopin - Piano Sonatas 2 and 3
• Chopin - Polonaises, particularly Op.40 No.1 and Op.53
• Chopin - Préludes, Op.28
• Chopin - Tarantelle, Op.43
• Chopin - Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise brillante
• Field - Nocturnes
• Hummel - Piano Sonatas
• Felix Mendelssohn - Rondo Capriccioso
• Felix Mendelssohn - Songs Without Words
• Felix Mendelssohn - Organ Sonatas 1 and 6
• Schubert - Piano Sonatas – particularly 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21
• Schubert - Wanderer Fantasy
• Schubert - Fantasia in F Minor for piano four hands
• Schubert - Grand Duo for piano four hands
• Schubert - Impromptus D.899 and 935
• Schubert - Drei Klavierstücke D.946
• Schubert - Moments Musicaux
• Schubert - Marche Militaire 1
• Schubert - Lebensstürme
• Clara Schumann - Piano Music
• Robert Schumann - Kreisleriana
• Robert Schumann - Carnaval
• Robert Schumann - Arabeske
• Robert Schumann - Fantasy in C major Op.17
• Robert Schumann - Humoreske
• Robert Schumann - Piano Sonatas 1 and 2
• Robert Schumann - Symphonic Studies
• Robert Schumann - Toccata
• Robert Schumann - Papillons
• Robert Schumann - Davidsbündlertänze
• Robert Schumann - Fantasiestücke
• Robert Schumann - Nachtstücke
• Robert Schumann - Faschingsschwank aus Wien
• Robert Schumann - Kinderszenen
• Weber - Invitation to the Dance
• Weber - Piano Sonatas 1-4

High Romantic (c.1850 – c.1890)

• Alkan - Concerto for Solo Piano
• Alkan - Symphony for Solo Piano
• Alkan - Grande Sonate ‘Les Quatres Ages’
• Alkan - Le Festin d’Esope
• Alkan - Préludes, Op.31
• Alkan - Études, Op.35
• Brahms - Hungarian Dances
• Brahms - Handel Variations
• Brahms - Paganini Variations
• Brahms - Op.39 Waltzes for Piano Four-Hands
• Brahms - Klavierstücke, Op.76
• Brahms - Rhapsodies, Op.79
• Brahms - Fantasien, Op.116
• Brahms - Intermezzi, Op.117
• Brahms - Klavierstücke, Op.118
• Brahms - Klavierstücke, Op.119
• Brahms - Eleven Chorale Preludes, Op. 122
• Dvořák - Humoresques, particularly No.4
• Franck - Organ Works
• Franck - Prelude, Chorale and Fugue
• Gottschalk - Piano Works
• Grieg - Lyric Pieces for Piano, particularly Wedding day at Troldhaugen
• Liszt - Années de Pèlerinage 1, 2 and 3
• Liszt - Mephisto Waltz No.1
• Liszt - Totentanz
• Liszt - Piano Sonata in B Minor
• Liszt - Transcendental Études
• Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsodies
• Liszt - Rhapsodie espagnole
• Liszt - Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, particularly Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude
• Liszt - Three Concert Études S.144
• Liszt - Grand Galop chromatique
• Liszt - Deux Légendes S.175
• Liszt - Weihnachtsbaum
• Liszt - Liebesträume, particularly No.3
• Liszt - Grandes études de Paganini, particularly La Campanella
• Liszt - Operatic Paraphrases
• Liszt - Schubert Lieder Transcriptions
• Liszt - Fantasia and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H
• Liszt - Fantasia and Fugue on Ad Nos, Ad Salutarum Undam
• Liszt - Late Piano Works – particularly Nuages gris, La lugubre gondola, Unstern and Bagatelle sans tonalité
• Moszkowski - Piano Music – particularly Étincelles
• Reubke - The 94th Psalm
• Tchaikovsky - The Seasons
• Widor - Toccata from Symphony For Organ No.5

Late Romantic (c.1880 – c.1930)

• Albeniz - Ibéria
• Busoni - Fantasia contrappuntistica
• Busoni - Elegies
• Busoni - Transcription of the Chaconne from Bach’s Partita No.2 for Solo Violin
• Elgar - Organ Sonata
• Elgar - Concert Allegro
• Fauré - Barcarolles
• Fauré - Nocturnes
• Fauré - Preludes
• Fauré - Dolly Suite
• Fauré - Souvenirs de Bayreuth
• Granados - Goyescas
• Granados - Spanish Dances
• Horowitz - Variations on a theme from Carmen
• Lyapunov - Transcendental Études
• Medtner - Piano Sonatas, particularly 1, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 12
• Medtner - Skazki
• Medtner - Forgotten Melodies Op.38, 39, 40
• Rachmaninoff - Preludes Op.23 and Op.32
• Rachmaninoff - Études Op.33 and Op.39
• Rachmaninoff - Morceaux de Fantaisie, Op.3, No.2
• Rachmaninoff - Piano Sonatas 1 and 2
• Reger - Organ Works
• Satie - Gymnopédies
• Satie - Gnoissiennes
• Scriabin - Piano Sonatas, particularly 5, 8, 9 and 10
• Scriabin - Piano Études
• Scriabin - Piano Preludes

Modernist (c.1900 – c.1945)

• Barber - Piano Sonata
• Bartok - Allegro Barbaro
• Bartok - Piano Sonatina
• Bartok - Out of Doors
• Bartok - Mikrokosmos
• Berg - Piano Sonata
• Copland - Piano Variations
• Debussy - Suite Bergamasque
• Debussy - Préludes for Piano
• Debussy - Children’s Corner
• Debussy - Arabesques
• Debussy - Estampes
• Debussy - Pour le piano
• Debussy - Études for Piano
• Debussy - Images for Piano
• Debussy - L'Isle joyeuse
• Gershwin - Three Preludes
• Ginastera - Piano Sonata
• Hindemith - Piano Sonatas
• Ives - Piano Sonata 2
• Janácek - Piano Sonata "October 1, 1905"
• Janácek - On An Overgrown Path
• Janácek - In the Mists
• Joplin - Piano Music
• Poulenc - Piano Works
• Prokofiev - Piano Sonatas, particularly 6, 7, and 8
• Prokofiev - Visions Fugitives
• Prokofiev - Sarcasms
• Prokofiev - Toccata
• Ravel - Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte
• Ravel - Gaspard de la Nuit
• Ravel - Le Tombeau de Couperin
• Ravel - Miroirs
• Ravel - Jeux d’eau
• Ravel - Sonatine
• Ravel - Valses Nobles Et Sentimentales
• Ravel - Other piano music
• Schoenberg - Drei Klavierstücke, Op. 11
• Schoenberg - Sechs kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19
• Schoenberg - Fünf Klavierstücke, Op.23
• Schoenberg - Suite für Klavier, Op.25
• Shostakovich - 24 Preludes and Fugues
• Shostakovich - Piano Sonatas 1 and 2
• Stravinsky - Piano Sonata (1924)
• Turina - Piano Music

Post-War (c.1945 onwards)

• Barraqué - Piano Sonata
• Boulez - Piano Sonatas 1, 2 and 3
• Cage - Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano
• Carter - Piano Sonata
• Kapustin - Piano Music
• Ligeti - Continuum
• Ligeti - Études
• Ligeti - Two Studies for Organ
• Ligeti - Musica Ricercata
• Messiaen - Organ Works, particularly Apparition de l'église éternelle, Diptyque, La Nativité du Seigneur, Les Corps Glorieux, Messe de la Pentecôte
• Messiaen - Catalogue d'oiseaux
• Messiaen - Quatre Études de rythme
• Messiaen - Vingt Regards sur l'enfant-Jésus
• Messiaen - La Nativite du Seigneur
• Messiaen - Messe de la Pentecôte
• Messiaen - Livre du Saint-Sacrement
• Mompou - Piano Music
• Nancarrow - Studies for Player Piano
• Rzewski - The People United Will Never Be Defeated!
• Takemitsu - Piano Music

Minimalism (c.1965 onwards)

• Glass - Solo Piano
• Pärt - Für Alina
• Young - The Well-Tuned Piano