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Bach, J S: Goldberg Variations, BWV988

Jeremy Denk (piano)

Denk's new recording is at once an extended love letter to intellectual curiosity, the spirit of playfulness and Bach...Denk is firmly in the driving seat, and while each variation is tellingly...

Bach, J S: Goldberg Variations, BWV988

Jeremy Denk (piano)

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Denk's new recording is at once an extended love letter to intellectual curiosity, the spirit of playfulness and Bach...Denk is firmly in the driving seat, and while each variation is tellingly...

About

Nonesuch releases pianist Jeremy Denk's recording of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations on October 21, 2013. A companion DVD accompanies the album and contains video "liner notes," with Denk demonstrating passages on the piano as he explains certain details of the iconic piece. The beloved Bach work has long been a staple of Denk's repertoire and his performances have received critical praise. The New York Times has remarked on his "profound affinity with Bach," and the Philadelphia Inquirer called Denk's performance of this piece "mesmerizing," noting that his "Bach is expressive, but not fussy or overthought. Technically unbothered by the work's more explosive spots and remarkably fluid in its scurrying passage work, he was able to make connections between and among bits of material that sometimes occur many seconds apart."

Jeremy Denk has established himself as one of today's most thoughtful and compelling pianists. He has appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and London. This past season included a return to Carnegie Hall in recital, as part of 13-city tour of the US, as well as a performance of Bach's complete set of six keyboard concertos in a single evening at Lincoln Center.

Denk's previous releases include a recording of music by Charles Ives, released on his own Think Denk Media label, and a Nonesuch album of works by Beethoven and Ligeti. He also is an avid chamber musician and a respected writer, both on his blog and in such publications as The New Yorker. Denk is expanding a recent article in that publication into a book that will be published by Random House.

** Includes companion DVD of video "liner notes" by the artist **

‘Mr. Denk is a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs, in whatever combination – both for his penetrating intellectual engagement with the music and for the generosity of his playing.’

– NEW YORK TIMES

Contents and tracklist

Aria
Track length3:46
Variation 1
Track length1:48
Variation 2
Track length1:23
Variation 3: Canon on the unison
Track length2:09
Variation 4
Track length1:08
Variation 5
Track length1:19
Variation 6: Canon on the second
Track length1:13
Variation 7
Track length1:42
Variation 8
Track length1:40
Variation 9: Canon on the third
Track length1:48
Variation 10: Fughetta
Track length1:29
Variation 11
Track length1:46
Variation 12: Canon on the fourth
Track length2:21
Variation 13
Track length5:05
Variation 14
Track length1:57
Variation 15: Canon on the fifth
Track length4:06
Variation 16: Overture
Track length2:50
Variation 17
Track length1:51
Variation 18: Canon on the sixth
Track length1:25
Variation 19
Track length0:56
Variation 20
Track length1:57
Variation 21: Canon on the seventh
Track length2:53
Variation 22: Alla breve
Track length1:48
Variation 23
Track length2:04
Variation 24: Canon on the octave
Track length2:16
Variation 25
Track length6:51
Variation 26
Track length1:51
Variation 27: Canon on the ninth
Track length1:48
Variation 28
Track length2:08
Variation 29
Track length1:45
Variation 30: Quodlibet
Track length1:48
Aria da capo
Track length3:58

Awards and reviews

December 2013

Denk's new recording is at once an extended love letter to intellectual curiosity, the spirit of playfulness and Bach...Denk is firmly in the driving seat, and while each variation is tellingly characterised, they are incorporated into a coherent, organic vision of the whole.

November 2013

Denk's excellently engineered interpretation proves...enjoyable and stimulating...it's clear that Denk has seriously lived with, thought about and (obviously) practised the Goldberg Variations to the point where ideation and execution barely differ, and that's no small achievement.

3rd November 2013

No pianist is more poetic in that poignant minor-key canon at the fifth (Variation 15), nor more humorous in the skittish, bustling cross-handed energy of the immediately preceding movement. Every moment, every parameter (note, harmony, texture), is painstakingly contextualised.

New York Times December 2013

Denk has made Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations a calling card over the years. The result of years of study and exploration are admirably clear in this alluring reading, notable for its clarity, pulse and coloristic flair.
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