Bach: The Goldberg Variations (Glenn Gould album)

"A State of Wonder" redirects here. For the Ann Patchett novel, see State of Wonder.

Bach: The Goldberg Variations
The original Columbia Masterworks album cover shows 30 photos of Gould in the studio, analogous to the 30 variations.
Studio album by
Glenn Gould
Released1956 (1956)
RecordedJune 10 – June 16, 1955
GenreClassical
Length38:34
LabelColumbia
External audio
audio icon Gould performing Bach's Goldberg Variations BWV 988 in 1956
on Archive.org

Bach: The Goldberg Variations is the debut album of Canadian classical pianist Glenn Gould. An interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations (BWV 988), the 1956 record launched Gould's career as a renowned international pianist, and became one of the most well-known piano recordings.[1] Sales were "astonishing" for a classical album: it was reported to have sold 40,000 copies by 1960, and had sold more than 100,000 by the time of Gould's death in 1982.[2] In 1981, a year before his death, Gould made a new recording of the Goldberg Variations, sales of which exceeded two million by the year 2000.[3]

At the time of the first album's release, Bach's Goldberg Variations—a set of 30 contrapuntal variations beginning and ending with an aria—were outside the standard piano repertoire, having been recorded on the instrument only a few times before, either on small labels or unreleased.[n 1] The work was considered esoteric[4] and technically demanding, requiring awkward hand crossing at times when played on a piano (these passages would be played on two manuals on a harpsichord). Gould's album both established the Goldberg Variations within the contemporary classical repertoire and made him an internationally famous pianist nearly "overnight".[5] First played in concert by Gould in 1954, the composition was a staple of Gould's performances in the years following the recording.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Fleming was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Bazzana (2003, p. 153)
  3. ^ Stegemann, Michael, "Bach for the 21st century", introduction to Glenn Gould, The Complete Bach Collection, p. 5, Sony Classical
  4. ^ Bazzana (2003, pp. 150 –&#32, 151)
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gould was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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