Added: 4 years ago
From: stephenykevin
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  • Shall never listen to goldberg variations by another, Aria Da Capo interpretation is divine, somewhere somehow Bach has said a big thankyou to Gould. and i must thank stevenykevin

  • I'm unable to share this to FB !!!! ACK !!!

  • #26 blows my mind, so intricate.

  • @rmondell I love that Chopin would send his students home if they sounded like him ~ All teachers (and not just music) should strive to be like him. I feel so lucky to have logged on to youtube just now, and found that sometime I subscribe to had favorited this piece. The comments have been a joy to read while listening to this beautiful music.

  • Gould makes it look easy...

  • Such a Great talent and geniusness

  • And to think that the absolutely stunning quodlibet/variation 30 starting at 4:18, which is a combination of two songs, was intended as a joke! That's just amazing. Can you imagine your family on a Saturday evening, taking turns in instantly combing different melodies just for fun, instead of playing Monopoly or watching tv? The Bach family simply kicked some ***.

  • @nyo267n

    Whaaat who said that?? Always been my favorite variation, and the only one I decided to learn myself so far :-)))

  • I would find it extremely distracting to play without the fallboard in place. I guess not much distracted this master of the keyboard.

  • Am I the only who likes his humming? If you want to hear this without humming, listen to a MIDI file.

  • I love Bach, i love Gould, but his humming is sh1t.

  • @Dramiskami

    I know. His humming is really obvious in some of the recordings.

  • touching

  • Thats just incredible music.

  • @Dramiskami You're an idiot. Please drown yourself.

  • That last shot is so nerve wrecking when you realize Gould died the week this recording was released :S

  • Now THIS scratches the musical itch. Sorry FM radio.

  • Just appreciate the music guys. This is a brilliant display of what limited few can play.

  • wow...wtf is going on here. It's like his fingers are on crack! amazing.

  • 23 people don't deservo to live, or worse, don't deserve this Music.

  • the las 4 minutes isstraight out of heaven

  • @liranrok1 I vote for 9 minutes 33 seconds like that :)

  • Gould will never be forgotten because he has been immortalized by you tube.

  • Absolute mastery.

  • Merveilleux génie irremplaçable!!!

  • ¿Tienes una edición del s. XVIII? Si tienes un documento tan antiguo deberías donarlo a una biblioteca, sería una pena que una edición casi original de la música del Maestro entre los Maestros se deteriorase. También te animo a que subas la copia digital a imslp.org/wiki/Página_principa­l para compartirla con todo el mundo.

    Ah, y gracias por comprtir esta soberbia interpretación.

    Saludos.

  • 23 confirmations that humans can live like "Mike the Wonder Chicken"

  • best lullaby ever?

  • he is the best omg.. i am into hip hop and stuff.. but this guy is amazing.. i heard other versions no one is accurate like him

  • Bach's music was so AWESOME you don't even need dynamics! Just play like you're hands weigh ten pounds

  • Thank you Mr. Glenn Gould, and The goldberg variations, Aria moves me deep

    and cry every time I listen . I can hear your voice.

    Everlasting rest and peace be with you in heaven.

  • Just looked at some of the comments next to this video and it is great so many people love it, but so many people are using it to project their ego. The music and playing of the whole piece - (even though this video seems 'showy' if you are watching and not listening), stresses the importance of contemplation, integrity and honesty. I do find it irritating that comments next to such a thoughtful piece of music display such little reflection on the part of so many of the posters.

  • such sick coordination between the hands.

  • The great Glenn Gould and his equally famous chair

  • @thelio1000 please take into account this was before they made touch-sensitive keys

  • Whenever people attach preconceived conceptions to how music should be performed they deprive themselves of appreciating the interpretation,unfortunately, the preconceived notion is how most of the world is run; this is why people flock to conclusions, with little or no regard to consequence or accuracy. Sometimes a person just parrots whatever's been told to them for years , without questioning its validity, or even worth.

  • You guys remind me of kids calling the Blair Witch Project "The Scariest Movie EVAARR!!"

    Why am I not blown away by this, as good as it is? Pick up "Horowitz Plays Scarlatti" and get a freaking clue before you come down on me.

  • @BaronVonLichtenstein

    Ok, you're actually loosing all your credibility saying things like "I've CDs about 30 baroque composers" and putting Cabezon into it...

    If you haven't sufficient sensibility to percieve intepretation details nor sufficient respect to say nothing about this, at least don't get angry and try to show us "how much do you know about music" (I saw your video of the improvisation and it shows nothing about music knowledge, only mechanics, exactly what you are criticizing here).

  • @ZekenNekez Cabezon was pre-baroque, so shoot me. I just mentioned the guitar improvisation because the person criticisimg me was a guitarist. The point I've been making is I have more respect for songwriters than trained monkeys like yourself with no imagination.

    teNR5cJFx50

    Gould will be forgotten in 50 years as will practically any performer. Bach won't. In fact Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Paganini, could probably all play their music as well as anyone today. The point is, it's THEIR music.

  • @ZekenNekez Those typing lessons really paid off. You can reinterpret other people's ideas.

    teNR5cJFx50

    What a tool.

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  • This is just GOULDEN!

  • good gould!

  • I love his interpretation. so clear, beautiful. there's no lies.

  • Glen Gould's interpretations of Bach are simply astonishing. Wonderful.

  • Gould is an absolute genius...

  • @Koganification practice makes perfect.

  • @stephenykevin

    ok, thats true, so his genius is patience and ability to spend that time on practising. Practise makes perfect-i agree, but those kind of words should be reserved only for those, who can play it...

  • @stephenykevin wrong, practice makes PROGRESS. :)

  • Perfect practice makes perfect.

  • @stephenykevin yes but i've heard he rarely practiced as an adult -_-

  • @stephenykevin PERFECT practice makes perfect!

  • @stephenykevin Really? Gould often said he rarely practiced the piano... I just think he was a genius

  • @laqttu

    Oh, he practiced, no doubt about that... Just mentally :-) He said he would practice even when not in front of a piano, just by mind. MP - Mental practice

    Maybe that explains his extraordinary memory as well!

  • @Kinjutsuu Yes, that's quite true. Just out of interest, how did he used to practice mentally? Did he imagine, in his mind, sitting at a piano and playing, or was it something more? I'm genuienly fascinated by it :-) Thanks

  • @Koganification he is the best omg.. i am into hip hop and stuff.. but this guy is amazing.. i heard other versions no one is accurate like him

  • Beautiful - but the sounds he makes spoils it a bit.

  • Mother! What a fellow! God's touch.

  • The Michael Jordan of the piano.

  • Gould possessed an equal amount of control in both hands.

  • @BaronVonLichtenstein-Gould brought us deeper into Bach's mind. Without Gould, no one could show Bach's message to us in these variations in such clarity. Now if that is second rate in your opinion, then let Bach play the variations for us and see if the composer alone is first rate. They are from different fields. Gould is, for me, as with many others, a first rate performer of Bach.

  • @ebnreyes Absolutely. Without Glenn Gould, we wouldn't be gifted this incredibly unique and wonderful insight into Bach's music. When you ask what has Gould created, I think you're listening to it. He had such a profound understanding of the music and such a deep connection with the composer that these beautiful interpretations are what he created. Also, calling him a great "typist" is somewhat insulting considering he was one of, if not the, most brilliant pianists of the 20th century.

  • @meats0 yes, calling gould a typist is sort of like saying that there is no such thing as a performing artist, although bach was probably a great musician as well as composer, i suppose we will never know since he must have destroyed all of his cd's.

    are actors not artists? i sort of think the beatles created the modern obsession with the "required " connection with composing and performing.

    but even in pop music there need not be that "requirement"

  • @verbenco Completely agree with you. Today's compulsion to make music so performance based is something, personally I find rather annoying. In the sense that I think flashing lights and a loud audience can detract from the music itself. Performance of the music with a little atmosphere created through lighting and what not is a good thing. But when it gets to the point where the performance takes precedent over the music is a problem I think.

  • @BaronWhatever - first of all when you write that Bach was a master of the instrument and Mozart was a virtuoso and then you ask for a proof that Gould was good in what he was doing - come on? The other thing is whether you like this particular interpretation or not, i am ok with that but don't say it is of any objectivity, 'cos it is just ridiculous :) bless u ; Plus - since your judgement is so precisely cruel and informed - well the show is yours :DDD

  • @grzymol I never asked for any such thing, in fact I granted that he is a master performer. I simply said I have more respect for the guy who actually wrote the music. I even conceded that Gould may very well be the best performer of Bach. But as a songwriter I respect creation over recreation. Imagination over performance. Take away Gould, Bach is still Bach. Take away composition and he has nothing to play. Is Gould great? Yes. So are a bunch of 12 year old Asian girls.

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  • @rmondell THIS is one of the truest things I have read on Youtube. :)

  • agencja futurologiczna

  • What year is this from. Que ano estaba de?

  • @Buzaglod it is year 1981 (a few months before Glenn Gould's death)

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  • wow, the trill etude is played so fast, the right hand during the first 8 bars is one of my fav parts of all the variations.

  • @LeySun

    Agree, well said. There is a fragment on YouTube where Gould speaks about Richter and the two types of musicians. The first show their command of their instrument, the second convey the music.

  • The extremely demanding technical aspects of this work just aren't a consideration for Glenn. I'm not sure he could play Rachmaninoff as effortlessly as Valentina does though. Her technique is frightening. I would love to hear her play the Goldbergs.

  • Gould & Bach. Bach & Gould. Just great!

  • It's like climbing the Everest without oxigen, and then resting on top of the world, so close to God. His life is accomplished. Thanks Mr. Gould for your latest present.

  • There's an indescribable feeling he exudes after he plays the last chord and his body slumps over, utterly spent

  • WHY IS THIS NOT BATMAN

  • Glenn Gould is a true, "artist".

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  • Thank you for posting this. It's wonderful to see him play. I have listened to A State of Wonder many, many times, and this adds a lot. By the way his interview on that CD is interesting. This video is a treasure and I am grateful, but why does the camera ever leave his hands!!!??? I believe this was recorded in 1981 and he did not live long after that.

  • Splendida!  No need any explanation, No need any stupid CRITICIZM.

  • Ich komme immer wieder auf Gould zurück, warum -- ich weiß es nicht wieso ist er so anders alles alle andern die doch auch wunderbar spielen?

  • @Haeronthegreat To you personally, but not for Gould.

  • Thank You, "Stephenykevin"! My mind's melting, hearing this Beauty....

  • It is what T S Eliot referred to as the: "End of the endless Journey to no end.

    Conclusion of all that

    Is inconclusible"

  • The only imperfection is that it has to end.

  • @Tengooda the fact that this music end is just an illusion. This music is perfect, perfection is infinite. You can also die but still listen to this music as we're part of this perfection. Bach music is not related to human emotions but to the will of the infinite. Trust me, it doesn't end.

  • When I listen (and watch) Gould perform I think of the last lines of Yeats' "Among School Children": "O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,

    How can we know the dancer from the dance?"

    John

  • relax,descansen mentes inquietas.

  • Wie so oft endet der Tag mit den Goldberg Variationen. Der Herr Graf Keys. wußte schon was er sich von Goldberg vorspielen lassen soll

  • Or ignorance.

  • @rmondell: I agree! When an artist reaches this level of technical mastery and expression only jealousy and envy would motivate one to criticize.

  • The skill is just astonishing. It never gets old. What I would give to be able to bang off 5, 8, 20, 26, etc like that at a party.

  • The quodlibet (variation 30) always brings tears to my eyes. It 'says' so much with such economy of effort, and with the comforting familiarity of a well-loved fairy tale.

  • conmovedor

  • @BassicStorm

    yeah just like ur mum

  • Fantastic.

  • ... 2:15

  • Biological clock !!!.

  • Good grief. I simply cannot comprehend the superhuman levels of skill that are required to play this music so beautifully and so flawlessly. I am awestruck.

  • i think the goldberg variations should be renamed the GOULDberg variations!!!

  • Magnificent.

  • amen

  • Unsurpassed

  • Awesome work...

    Bach, genio entre genios, su música seguirá siempre viva por los siglos de los siglos =)

  • Where does one find fitting words? His soul gushes with a commanding gusto as fingers knit & weave the keys with supple elegance . By aria da capo, the cycle being spent, all he has left is the little child who now, with a private tenderness that almost leads me to blush, shares the only thing that seems to have ever been in his heart- the love that holds us together despite it all.

  • excellent!!!!!!!!!!!

  • What a beauty!

  • BRAVO!!!!

  • probably he had been an alien, lol? outstanding genious!

  • Bach cures and Glenn Gould heals.

  • at the end he's like, "im done with life, just played the goldberg variations perfectly from beginning to end."

  • Do you notice that he doesnt use any musical notation of all the goldberg varations. Glenn gould is a master!!!

  • I read somewhere that gould was using a Yamaha in this recording.

  • Model "D" Steinway in this recording. He did use Yamaha earlier in his career.

  • It's the other way around: he used the yamaha in this recording and the steinway earlier in his career.

  • Listening G.Gould is  a treat

  • Listening to CDs, etc., of this man play is a real pleasure. Watching him play is absolutely amazing! I have found a whole new depth of appreciation for his talent and ability. Would that all of his recordings had accompanying video!

    Thank you for posting this!

  • I love the way he dies at the end

  • It's true, it's seem to die and we too indeed.

  • Glenn Gould is a genius! this piece looks tough, but very beautiful to listen to :)

  • 28th and 29th variations are definitely my favorite.

  • looks painful to me!

  • what is there to say.

  • Everything GG does is either very fast or very slow. I love it!

  • ...and his hands look SO very young...

  • @rmondell

    I agree. Thank you!

  • i can, i can, and you too! i agree also with your judgement, but i still convinced that all performance could be criticized, all

    something is wonderful in gould, but something , just something, is, in my opinion, wrong, not necessary, out of style

  • GLEN GOULD IS SHIT HOT

  • why? there is no reason for suspend critical judgment

  • There is something very depressing about watching him play this. Can't get your soul back after you let it out this much... You can tell this recording was very important to him. He seems relieved.

  • alguien podria darme porfavor la partitura de aria da capo?

    can someon please hand me over some sheet music for aria da capo?

  • Awsome! Inspiring!

  • 5:48 priceless...

  • @alwaysapimp1

    really... He take the core out.

  • I will have to agree totally with that. Its mother natures wonder.

  • I think Glenn Gould is one of the top 5 pianists of all time, probably THE overall best, if there is such a thing, so I am very cautious in my critique: The passage 4:07 to 4:15 seems somewhat uneven and the rallentando a bit forced for the otherwise very flowing technique of Gould's playing.

  • !que placer ver tocar a glenn y la musica que sale del piano es maravillosa.y lo que mas me conmueve es ver como al final de esa increible aria cae como rendido ante la musica que acaba de escuchar, como si estuviera en otro mundo¡ que conexion con la musica en el aria final, parece que sus dedos no tocan el piano¡ eso solo lo puden hacer los que estan conectados con Dios, como Bach. !!!!!Bach por siempre¡¡¡¡

  • His career began with the Aria, and so ends with the Aria. But what a Voyage in between. Even now when his hands have been stilled for many years. We cannot help but be drawn to what I consider a true musical Genius. There are many other masters, and will be many more to come. But he has stamped a unique place in musical history. He and Bach together. For ever!

  • One of the most enjoyab;e encounters I've ever had with Bach.

    And boy does Gould care.

  • Awesome. Very moving. I'm not a huge fan of classical music, but The Variations is at the top of my list of favorite recordings. Thanks much to stephenykevin for posting. I've listened many times.

    Does anyone know if this is the same performance that went on to the studio CD?

  • Similar, but I think not the same.

  • Genius Bach, Glenn the best.

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  • this guy is mad crazy on the piano. this is cool

  • nahedh...

    That nut's THE genius!

  • I agree wholeheartedly. Just quoting George Szell. :)

  • That nut's a genius.

  • Look closely, He is playing the Aria with his eyes closed

  • Irshkboy: Yes, I noticed that, too. But then again, when you have been playing this music your entire life and this composer is closer to your heart than any other, I guess you can pull off amazing things like that. Maestro Gould had such an affinity for J.S. Bach and it's quite a shame that we can now only wonder how much more he would have given us if he had lived a full life.

  • PS I can't believe he played this entire cycle with the fallboard removed from the piano! That would have distracted me so much watching the keys underneath the action.

  • Glenn Gould,Grossmeister Aller Zeiten

    The winds have blown

    The Years have past

    Wie weet waarheen de wolken dwalen

  • I've been struggling for a long time with the question what to call Glenn Gould. His grasp of the meaning and means of the music he plays, when playing Bach, is so complete and natural he might as well have written it, so he is not a performing musician as such. I have finally decided to think of him as a musical philosopher who uses the medium to express internally consistent and viable ideas about existence in general. Completely in his element, expressing naturally. Thank you.

  • @LeySun beautiful, insightful comment

  • You know, I struggle with the same thing, because Glenn is more than just a superb piano player. I adore him, of course, and enjoy the ideosynchrosies he was plagued/gifted with. Your small description of him seems very apt to me, well said !!

  • I've heard him described as a recreative genius.

  • @LeySun great comment!

  • @LeySun that conclusion will certainly "wow" them at the next meeting of the "over-educated shithead" club.

    Just kidding. penetrating insight. :-)

  • @LeySun Gould would have agreed with you. He was first and foremost a thinker and re-imaginer of music, and performance (in public at any rate) was not his favorite activity. He once said that one does not play the piano with one's fingers but with one's mind.

  • @LeySun beautifully said.

  • @LeySun This is beautifully written. This is an explanation of the proccess of creating art. The personal expression of art is one's personal interpretation of the experience of being alive. Thank you, for your enlightening comment.

  • @LeySun jajajja .. ;)

  • @LeySun

    Agree, well said. There is a fragment on YouTube where Gould speaks about Richter and the two types of musicians. The first show their command of their instrument, the second convey the music.

  • @LeySun I call him a musician. He's playing the piano, not reinventing space time. Yes, he's excellent at recreating other peoples work.

  • @BaronVonLichtenstein The piano didn't exist in Bach's time.  There were similar instruments, of course, but there are intricacies and subtleties that are unique to a piano that weren't in, for example, a clavichord. It's more than just playing sheet music, you have to reinterpret the music to a different more expressive instrument.