专辑介绍：
巴赫最后一部作品《赋格的艺术》被誉为音乐家的“哲学著作”，他以音乐思维中的高度逻辑性和结构的严密性来反映音乐所包含的数理与宇宙的和谐之美。运用对位法的顶峰可从这部作品中见到,他把超越人类脑力极 妙技,处理得极为简单而鲜明,其中的对位技巧极为复杂精致,绝非仅靠耳力所能理解.其中很多以c小调开头，到后来则像最棒的魔术师的戏法一样，以d小调结束。而这些，却只有最留心的听众的耳朵才能识破产生变化的那一瞬。借助调性的跳跃，可以无限重复音乐作品，直到他被所有音阶的音符都变形过为止。巴赫解释说：“只有这样才能使国王的荣耀在转调的同时不断升高。”最后一首赋格曲没有完成，在以他的名字“B-A-C-H”。因为在德语里，B就是降B音，H是B音……这是他第一次用自己的名字去谱曲。非常有意思，因为它是这么容易拼写，他是第一次写这样的赋格曲。人们认为这是4声部的赋格，作品最后的切入点，重新诠释了赋格的艺术。但他去世了，没有完成。所以，他留下了这个忽然结束的让人惊讶的结尾……
专辑曲目:
01 contrapunctus 1
02 contrapunctus 2
03 contrapunctus 3
04 contrapunctus 4
05 canon alla ottava
06 contrapunctus 5
07 contrapunctus 6, a 4, in stylo francese
08 contrapunctus 7, a 4, per augmentationem et diminutionem
09 canon alla decima, in contrapunto alla terza
10 contrapunctus 9, a 4, alla duodecima
11 contrapunctus 10, a 4, alla decima
12 contrapunctus 8, a 3
13 contrapunctus 11, a 4
14 canon alla duodecima in contrapunto alla quinta
15 contrapunctus 12, a 4. rectus
16 contrapunctus 12, a 4. inversus
17 contrapunctus 13, a 3. rectus
18 contrapunctus 13, a 3. inversus
19 fuga a 2 clav.
20 alio modo. fuga a 2 clav.
21 canon per augmentationem in contrario motu
22 fuga a 3 soggetti

Zhu Xiao-Mei is a Chinese classical pianist and teacher, now based in Paris, France.

匈牙利钢琴家 András Schiff 演奏巴赫《哥德堡变奏曲》，2001 年瑞士录音，2003 年 ECM 发行。这是 Schiff 第三次录制巴赫的这部名作。

Bar code:
STEREO 289 457 701-2
0 28945 77012 3

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NATHAN MILSTEIN, Violine

Milstein on Recording Bach

“I just stopped making records about ten years ago. I don’t enjoy recording much; it makes me very nervous. When I play for a live audience I am nervous only until I get to the stage; once I’m on stage I feel like a fish in water. Recording does make me nervous, with the extra emphasis on perfection, but I do want to leave a record of my thoughts on the music that has meant most to me. I am not adding new material to my repertoire now; instead, I devote myself to the music I have lived with and loved for a half-century and more. I like the way my sessions are handled by Deutsche Grammophon. Where there is an error or some reason for a re-take, I won’t do a ‘surgical’ job, slipping in a note here or there: repairs must be co-ordinated so the emotional impact, the instinctive quality will be continuous, so the idea, the fire, the lyricism will not be interrupted by patches. If something has to be re-taken, I play a big part of it, for the sake of the continuity. I think the Bach Sonatas and Partitas I recorded for Deutsche Grammophon in London actually are clearly superior to the set I did in the ‘50s. There is nothing in my repertoire that I don’t play better now than I did before — simply because of the added experience I have now — and it is especially gratifying to be able to record these works under today’s technical conditions.”

The Bach solo works [...] have been Milstein specialties for years. [...] Bach, though, was something he had to discover on his own: “In Russia we didn’t have respect for Bach as a great composer. Of all his works, only a single fugue was included in our curriculum. In my Bach playing I stress the bass and the middle voices separately, with particular emphasis on the bass almost as a separate entity.” In Milstein’s definition, “virtuosity” has nothing to do with mere display, but indicates “the highest degree of professional excellence — in any sort of undertaking, not only a musical one. I think War and Peace is a virtuoso work.” He also distinguishes technique from mere dexterity: “technique is not just a matter of muscular control — technique means adjusting the medium to what I want to do.” The instrument Milstein plays is a 1716 Stradivarius he acquired in 1945, formerly known as the “ex Goldmann”. He has renamed it the “Maria Teresa”, in honor of his daughter Maria and his wife Teresa.

From a conversation with Nathan Milstein (1975)
Richard Freed

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This is marvellous violin playing... Milstein’s special virtues are those of commanding technique: never is a note out of true in pitch or in rhythm.
Gramophone (1975)

... this is a magnificent set by any standard; from a performer close on 70 it is an achievement bordering on the miraculous.
Records and Recording (1975)

...this must surely rank as the seventy-year-old Odessa-born violinist’s crowning achievement. His interpretation, immaculately recorded by DG in a penetratingly clear yet warm ambiance, is so extraordinary that this three-disc album not only must be rated as one of this year’s finest releases but deserves to take its place among the greatest Bach recordings ever made. First, Milstein playing is impressive on purely technical grounds. So often these works tend to sound as though the performer is just barely going to make it through, especially in the contrapuntal convolutions of the sonatas’ three fugues; even at best, the rapid arpeggiation necessary to sustain three or four melodic lines all at once frequently results in an unpleasant scratchiness [...].
Technique aside, Milstein renditions have an unusually human quality. I find these to be warmly expressive readings in which the music is allowed to flow forward sensibly and the rhythms evoke all their dance origins. Slow movements, too, are handled in a wonderfully graceful manner. Finally, there is Milstein sense of pacing, which is something quite apart from his judicious choice of tempos. Rather it is revealed in a subtle rhetoric that causes a movement such as the Chaconne to build and grow from one climax to another. The pulse is always strong, the architecture always apparent, and the rubato-like inflections clarify the sentence structure of Bach’s phrases. Tonally, Milstein’s playing is quite beautiful.
Stereo Review (1976)

Every Phrase is shaped with meaning, every line is musically alive and in matters of technique there are no question marks either.
Gramophone (1976)

The Milstein set is the finest to have appeared in recent years. Every phrase is beautifully shaped and keenly alive; there is a highly developed feeling for line, and no want of virtuosity. ... Milstein is excellently served by the DG engineers, and the sound is natural and lifelike.
Penguin Guide (1977)

Milstein’s performances achieve both authority and spontaneity: the phrasing is supple, and the playing deeply felt without any suggestion of romantic indulgence. This is wholly admirable and can be recommended without reservation of any kind.
Gramophone (1977)

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MILSTEIN PLAYS BACH

To understand the fascination that the solo Sonatas and Partitas of Bach had for Nathan Milstein, we first have to consider the works themselves. They were written in 1720, at a time when the composer was concentrating on instrumental music in his role as Kapellmeister to the court of Cöthen. As in so many other spheres, Bach did not invent a genre but improved immeasurably on the solo violin music written by some of his German contemporaries and predecessors. He was a good player of the violin and viola himself and in his Sonatas and Partitas he created abstract shapes and forms in which the player could seem almost to be communing with himself, yet still dazzle the audience. This is music in which the spiritual and virtuosic elements of the performance are so finely balanced that it is difficult to say where one ends and the other begins. Bach is not satisfied with a single line of music but throws in chords and even counterpoint, in which the harmonic drift of the music implies extra voices which are not actually present. The most amazing displays of this counterpoint come in the great fugues of the three Sonatas. The Partitas are at first glance simply suites of dances. Yet they demand many techniques which express the very soul of the violin — the exciting bariolage in the ebullient opening Preludio of the E major Partita, for instance; and the D minor Partita culminates in a Chaconne, a basically slow dance built on a repeated bass, which is perhaps the mightiest single movement the composer ever created. Here, using one small violin, Bach traces out one of his most amazing edifices in sound.

The 19th century did not really comprehend this music, and various attempts were made to fit piano accompaniments to the Sonatas and Partitas. Only with the emergence of Joseph Joachim did a major virtuoso grapple with the vast possibilities of these works; and by then problems had arisen through the steady evolution of the violin and the bow. Bach used a bow with a convex stick and his violin was strung across a flatter, shallower bridge, with tar less tension, because the neck of the violin was shorter and less angled. In the search for more volume, most of the old violins were modified to take a higher tension. The bow evolved into using a concave stick, which again allowed for greater tension. These factors made it harder to play Bach’s chords and most violinists of the early 20th century worked out compromises between Bach’s demands and their own capabilities. There were aberrations such as the Vega bow, a contraption by which the player could sound every note of a chord, even on a modern violin; but until the rise of the period instrument movement, playing Bach on the violin was a struggle. It is one of the imponderable paradoxes of music that although a number of “authentic” violinists have tackled the Sonatas and Partitas in recent years, their best efforts have not so far eclipsed the finest “compromise” players. Among the latter Nathan Milstein (1904-1992) held an honoured place. He brought to Bach the same instincts for style and taste that made him an outstanding interpreter of Mozart and Beethoven. In addition he had a technical facility and fluency second to none.

The surprising thing was that Milstein emerged from a milieu, the Russian bourgeoisie, in which Bach was not appreciated. Under his famous teachers, Pyotr Stolyarsky in Odessa and Leopold Auer in St. Petersburg, he played virtually no Bach, nor was he taught to understand the style. He eventually developed his own view of Bach through playing the marvellous solo violin works of Max Reger, in which Bach’s style was seen through the prism of a modern German intellect. Once Milstein came to the West in the mid1920s, he quickly assimilated what he needed to learn from his fellow fiddlers. Pre-war recordings show that by the end of the 1930s, he was already a nonpareil Bach violinist. He came to esteem Bach, alongside Paganini, as the finest writer for the violin — not that he equated the two composers in terms of quality — and he named the Chaconne as his favourite piece of music, sometimes programming it on its own. He recorded the Sonatas and Partitas in the 1 950s but felt that in this second cycle for Deutsche Grammophon he had said his last word on the music.

Milstein’s Bach is based on a secure sense of rhythm — vital for the slow movements as much as the fast ones. The dance movements really dance but always in an aristocratic way. Milstein’s tone, although of great beauty, never draws attention to itself through the overuse of vibrato. The listener’s attention is always focused on the musical line, because the player’s feeling for line and legato is so strong and his tone is so well focused. The big fugues and the Chaconne are spaciously laid out but urgently played, with such a comprehensive intellectual grip that the interest never flags. The same intellectual grasp ensures that Bach’s counterpoint is fully realized. The quieter, more inward moments are not italicized by romantic rallentandi. Instead Milstein relies on gradations of tone and volume and the tension of the musical line. Above all, these interpretations have the “size” of a great actor’s soliloquy: using no props other than his bow and his 1716 Stradivarius, Milstein comes before his audience with complete confidence that he can hold the stage. And because he is a musician of refinement and elevated ideals, the spiritual charge that should always inhabit Bach’s greatest music is present, alongside those equally characteristic outbursts of joy and exhilaration.
Tully Potter

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ADD
Produced by Werner Mayer
Tonmeister (Balance Engineer): Klaus Hiemann
Recording Engineers: Joachim Niss/Volker Martin
® 1975 Polydor International GmbH, Hamburg
© 1998 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg Cover &Artist Photo: Siegfried Lauterwasser
Art Direction: Hartmut Pfeiffer

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THE ORIGINALS
LEGENDARY RECORDINGS FROM THE DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON CATALOGUE
Deutsche Grammophon ORIGINALS — milestone recordings from our LP catalogue, now reproduced with unprecedented fidelity on CD. This new series of critically acclaimed performances features the great names of Deutsche Grammophon’s past and present: celebrated interpreters whose recording careers flourished at 33 rpm, as well as outstanding artists of today whose early achievements were documented on black vinyl. All recordings in the series have been newly refurbished using Deutsche Grammophon’s latest technology in order to “recreate” the original sound-image of these legendary interpretations.

ORIGINAL-IMAGE BIT-PROCESSING
To reproduce the original sound-image of a recorded performance as faithfully as possible: this has been the aim of Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft in developing its innovative digital mixdown technology ORIGINAL-IMAGE BIT-PROCESSING.
This technology, developed in conjunction with Deutsche Grammophon’s new 4D Audio Recording system at the company’s Recording Centre in Hanover, is based on the notion that the technical medium itself should become inaudible. It is only the means to an end, that of allowing the listener to enjoy an entirely natural sound quality.
ORIGINAL-IMAGE BIT-PROCESSING now makes it possible to remix older recordings in order to “recreate” the original sound- image. This recreation employs—wherever possible — physio-acoustical principles to compensate for delay factors (such as the time required for sounds to reach the main microphone) as well as an extremely high-resolution processing of the musical signals.
Authentic Bit Imaging, the requantizing procedure developed by Deutsche Grammophon, allows the extraordinarily high quality of this mixdown to be transferred optimally to digital sound carriers.
It is Deutsche Grammophon’s philosophy that technology alone is never sufficient. Optimal sound quality can only be achieved when technology is guided by the trained ear of an experienced Tonmeister Deutsche Grammophon’s Tonmeister combine technical expertise with a solid musical education.
For the listener to these performances, the audible results of this latest alliance of modern technology with traditional craftsmanship will be greater presence and brilliance and a more natural spatial balance than previously attainable.

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WARNING! All rights reserved.
Unauthorized copying, reproduction, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting prohibited.
Manufactured and Marketed by PolyGram Classics & Jazz, a Division of PolyGram Records, Inc., New York, N.Y.

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LP released 1975
Grammy 1975
Grand Premio del Disco “Ritmo” (Madrid) 1985
Recording: London, Conway Hall (Wembley, Brent Town Hall), 2, 4 & 9/1973

“巴赫无伴奏大提琴组曲的所有演奏版本中，最爱还是史塔克1992年在RCA的录音。”日本乐评家武田明伦如是推荐。在1999年的“名曲名盘300”中，此录音版本更名列第5，乐评界与古典发烧友一致高度评介！
巴赫的六组无伴奏大提琴组曲（BWV 1007-1012）是无伴奏乐曲中最早闻名于世的典范，在音乐结构、艺术魅力和思想深度上都举世无双，自1901年被卡萨尔斯“发现”并介绍给全世界的听众以来，它们便成了无限意义的延伸，更被誉为演奏家技巧与修养的试金石，史塔克、罗斯特罗波维奇、傅尼叶、马友友等无数大师都屡次争相诠释这一纪念碑式作品。
作为二十世纪最伟大的大提琴演奏家，史塔克已经先后五次灌录巴赫的这一惊世巨作，都获得了极好的评论，并为他带来了1998年度葛莱美“最佳器乐独奏奖”的荣耀。本专辑收录的是他在70岁高龄之际，于RCA灌录的第五次录音。史塔克认为对美的追求永无止境，他冀求每一次的演奏，都能更接近这套乐曲的真理。
对比以前的四次，此第五次演奏里，细节更多，表现也更精确，史塔克在展现着他的速度与演奏力度的同时，以其一贯充满活力的风格诠释着，琴声中，充满了对生命的热情和坚毅。

巴赫在世的最后几年，主要花费时间在删改和完成先前的作品上面，但他仍继续写出新的作品。
《键盘练习曲集》第三卷出版之后，过了3年，第四卷在1742年也问世了，其实这是一套完整的作品。内容是咏叹调的三十首变奏曲，是巴赫为学生哥德堡（Goldberg）创作的乐曲。据说，俄罗斯驻德雷思顿大使冯·凯塞林男爵（Baron von Kaiseriling）因为晚上经常失眠，就让他的管风琴师哥德堡作一首催眠曲，用来在入睡前弹奏，哥德堡就向他教师巴赫求救，巴赫信手拈来，在短时间内，创作了这部作品。不过据英国传纪作家，蒂姆·道雷的《巴赫传》所述，这首曲子其实是凯塞林男爵直接委托巴赫写的，因与巴赫有师徒缘份的哥德堡每晚必须弹奏此曲而得名。这部作品堪称是“巴赫所有键盘作品中结构最简单、最扎实的作品，它气势磅礴、雄壮精美，经由技艺超群的大师巧妙演泽，将最严密的逻辑秩序和最自由的抒情表达融而为一，使人为之惊叹”。
加拿大钢琴家古尔德很好地把握了巴赫的精髓，用现代钢琴再现了这部原为大键琴写的作品的丰富内涵。古尔德成名后，第一张录制的唱片就是这首《哥德堡变奏曲》，当时的录音公司，即sony公司的前身哥伦比亚公司的职员问他，是不是换一首常见的，要知道在古尔德之前只有著名的波兰钢琴家兰多夫斯卡录过此曲，这样会不会太冒险。但年青的古尔德很有礼貌地固执了已见。就在它的唱片发行后，全世界爱乐者的心都被征服了，原先对巴赫音乐敬而远之的人，通过古尔德的诠释，开始读懂了巴赫严谨背后的美，许多人将其视为珍品。也许世界上唯一对这张唱片不满意的就是古尔德本人。在数码技术出来后，古尔德又重新录制了此首，且是他生平唯一的一次重录。原先自己用了20多年的斯坦威钢琴也变成了雅马哈钢琴，还是别人闲置在一边的旧钢琴。
谁也不清楚古尔德为什么重录这部作品。重录，某种意义上说就是对先前的否定，不过他的确公开否定了被公认为他里程碑的1955年录制版。“我无法与录制这张唱片的这个人的精神形成认同，就像这张唱片是一个别的什么人录制的与我无关。”确实，摆在我们面前的这张唱片，似乎没有先前演释的那种猛然攫住你的力量，但它更加严肃，更加柔情，更加具有声层的感染力……咏叹调主题沉静的深思，第15变奏中触键的变幻莫测，第25变奏中史诗般的距离感，所有这一切使这个1981的数码版，染上了一层超物然外的深刻宁静的气质。演奏时间也由原来的38分27秒放慢至51分15秒，特别是最后的咏叹调，他真的是在说，永别了，有种有意拖长的，令人揪心的口吻……
早先少数几个演奏过《哥德堡变奏曲》的钢琴家基本上都遵循老的传统。现在古尔德重又回到了早先的传统。但是这不是简单的回复，而是更高层次的扬弃。如作品以同一主题不断变奏的同度卡农、二度卡农、三度卡农直至九度卡农贯穿其中，互相之间安排性格不同的两个间播段进行对比，最后又回到“本体”——主题本身，这种既变化又统一，既和谐又对比，从一个本源出发，逐步发展，变形又回到本体，这一构想本身却具有更普遍、更广泛、更宏观的哲学内涵。正如黑格尔在《美学》中所说的，艺术在感性的面纱下揭示理念的发展，直到“看到更远的精神这一客观形式回转过来，把它扬弃，而后又返回自身”。
虽然，可以将古尔德1981年的版本，听成是他死前的永诀，如果仔细倾听，认真品味。我们发觉他的表情并没有过份的沉痛和悲哀，相反很宁静、深秋般的宁静。古尔德在巴赫的伟大音乐中，战胜了死亡，超越了自我，在生命最后时刻，似乎真正接受了上帝的福音。他知道自己已修成正果，成了名副其实的艺术圣徒。
他，从巴赫开始，以巴赫结束。
曲目介绍：
J. S. 巴赫的《哥德堡变奏曲》，BWV988，是巴赫著名的键盘作品，大约作于1741-1742年间。这部伟大的变奏曲原名叫做《有各种变奏的咏叹调》，1742年出版，此作为巴赫的学生哥德堡(Johan Theophil Goldberg)而作。哥德堡是侍奉当时驻在德累斯顿的俄国使臣凯瑟林(Hermann Karl Von Keyserlingk)伯爵的年轻演奏家。巴赫曾把他的《B小调弥撒》献给凯瑟林，因此而获得“宫廷音乐家”的封号。1741-1742年间，凯瑟林居住在莱比锡，让哥德堡师从巴赫，学习演奏技巧。伯爵患不眠症，失眠时就需哥德堡为其演奏，哥德堡以演奏需要，求巴赫帮助谱曲。巴赫当时作成这部变奏曲之后，凯瑟林送他一只装满100枚金路易的金杯以酬谢。
这是音乐史上规模最大，结构最恢宏，也是最伟大的变奏曲。这部变奏曲是为两层大键琴而作，巴赫在各段变奏里都指定了键盘的种类。变奏曲的形式，是以一个基本主题，引导出对比命题和对应（反对）命题，然后再探求演绎与对比的各种可能性。巴赫这部作品，以他1725年为安娜·玛格达琳娜而作的小曲集中的一首萨拉班德舞曲作为主题，发展成30段变奏。这30的数字，由3所支配，以3个成一组的变奏，以卡农的方式表达：一位齐声的卡农，二为二度卡农，三为三度卡农……此后达到第九个卡农后，第十变奏为四声部的赋格，之间不断出现创意曲、托卡它、咏叹调等各种形式。第一曾与第二层键盘交替。第十六变奏作为中心，速度分为前后两半，这种作曲技巧所构成的建筑结构之微妙，实在令人叹为观止！
这部作品共分32段，第一段以那首萨拉班德舞曲的主题开头，第32段是经过30段变奏后和缓地、平静地重新回到主题，不同的是第一段的简单主题经过30段变奏后，已变得异常丰富和复杂。
30段变奏分别是：
1.使用第一层键盘，二声部，前奏曲风格，拍子和调性与主题类同。
2.三声部，实用第一层键盘，上二声部暗示主题，低音不随基本旋律。
3.卡农，三声部，实用第一层键盘。
4.模仿前一变奏。
5.第一、第二层键盘交替表达。
6.第一层键盘的二度卡农。
7.第一、二层键盘交替表达，西西里舞曲风格。
8.使用第二层键盘，二声部，活泼的托卡它风格。
9.使用第一层键盘的三度卡农，三声部。
10.第一层键盘，四声部的小赋格。
11.使用第二层键盘的托卡它风格。
12.第一层键盘，四度卡农。
13.使用第二层键盘，抒情风格。
14.使用第二层键盘，活泼的前奏曲风格。
15.由原来一直的G大调转为G小调，第一层键盘，五度转位卡农，行板。
16.又变成G大调，前半部慢后半部快，序曲，把法国风格序曲的三段式改为两部：前半部为二声部前奏曲风格，行板；后半部为三声部小赋格，快板。
17.使用第二层键盘，二声部的托卡它风格。
18.使用第一层键盘的六度卡农。
19.使用第一层键盘，舞曲风格，三声部。
20.使用第二层键盘，具华丽的技巧。
21.七度卡农，部分使用半音阶。
22.托卡它风格，宁静的调子。
23.使用第二层键盘，模仿对位方式。
24.八度卡农，使用第一层键盘。
25.变成G小调，使用第二层键盘，浪漫的幻想曲性质，偏重于半音阶技法。
26.恢复G大调，前奏曲风格，慢拍和快拍子之间的旋律对比。
27.使用第二层键盘，九度卡农。
28.使用一贯的震音发挥华丽效果。
29.主调音乐样式，第一、第二层键盘交替。
30.使用第一键盘，标记是Quodlibet。Quodlibet是起源于中世纪的演唱方式，一种组合数首熟悉的民歌的乐曲。这里使用了17世纪意大利流行的民歌《被甘蓝和芜菁所追赶》和德国民歌《离开家已有许久》，使两者旋律以对位的方式互为缠绕。

Zhu Xiao-Mei is a Chinese classical pianist and teacher, now based in Paris, France.

在音乐结构、艺术魅力和思想深度上都举世无双，自1901年被卡萨尔斯"发现"并介绍给全世界的听众以来，它们便成了无限意义的延伸，更被誉为演奏家技巧与修养的试金石，史塔克、罗斯特罗波维奇、傅尼叶、马友友等无数大师都屡次争相诠释这一纪念碑式作品。
作为二十世纪最伟大的大提琴演奏家，史塔克已经先后五次灌录巴赫的这一惊世巨作，都获得了极好的评论，并为他带来了1998年度葛莱美"最佳器乐独奏奖"的荣耀。本专辑收录的是他在70岁高龄之际，于RCA灌录的第五次录音。史塔克认为对美的追求永无止境，他冀求每一次的演奏，都更接近这套乐曲的真理。
对比以前的四次，此第五次演奏录音里，细节更多，表现也更精确，史塔克在展现着他的速度与演奏力度的同时，以其一贯充满活力的风格诠释着，琴声中，充满了对生命的热情和坚毅。

巴赫在世的最后几年，主要花费时间在删改和完成先前的作品上面，但他仍继续写出新的作品。
《键盘练习曲集》第三卷出版之后，过了3年，第四卷在1742年也问世了，其实这是一套完整的作品。内容是咏叹调的三十首变奏曲，是巴赫为学生哥德堡（Goldberg）创作的乐曲。据说，俄罗斯驻德雷思顿大使冯·凯塞林男爵（Baron von Kaiseriling）因为晚上经常失眠，就让他的管风琴师哥德堡作一首催眠曲，用来在入睡前弹奏，哥德堡就向他教师巴赫求救，巴赫信手拈来，在短时间内，创作了这部作品。不过据英国传纪作家，蒂姆·道雷的《巴赫传》所述，这首曲子其实是凯塞林男爵直接委托巴赫写的，因与巴赫有师徒缘份的哥德堡每晚必须弹奏此曲而得名。这部作品堪称是“巴赫所有键盘作品中结构最简单、最扎实的作品，它气势磅礴、雄壮精美，经由技艺超群的大师巧妙演泽，将最严密的逻辑秩序和最自由的抒情表达融而为一，使人为之惊叹”。
加拿大钢琴家古尔德很好地把握了巴赫的精髓，用现代钢琴再现了这部原为大键琴写的作品的丰富内涵。古尔德成名后，第一张录制的唱片就是这首《哥德堡变奏曲》，当时的录音公司，即sony公司的前身哥伦比亚公司的职员问他，是不是换一首常见的，要知道在古尔德之前只有著名的波兰钢琴家兰多夫斯卡录过此曲，这样会不会太冒险。但年青的古尔德很有礼貌地固执了已见。就在它的唱片发行后，全世界爱乐者的心都被征服了，原先对巴赫音乐敬而远之的人，通过古尔德的诠释，开始读懂了巴赫严谨背后的美，许多人将其视为珍品。也许世界上唯一对这张唱片不满意的就是古尔德本人。在数码技术出来后，古尔德又重新录制了此首，且是他生平唯一的一次重录。原先自己用了20多年的斯坦威钢琴也变成了雅马哈钢琴，还是别人闲置在一边的旧钢琴。
谁也不清楚古尔德为什么重录这部作品。重录，某种意义上说就是对先前的否定，不过他的确公开否定了被公认为他里程碑的1955年录制版。“我无法与录制这张唱片的这个人的精神形成认同，就像这张唱片是一个别的什么人录制的与我无关。”确实，摆在我们面前的这张唱片，似乎没有先前演释的那种猛然攫住你的力量，但它更加严肃，更加柔情，更加具有声层的感染力……咏叹调主题沉静的深思，第15变奏中触键的变幻莫测，第25变奏中史诗般的距离感，所有这一切使这个1981的数码版，染上了一层超物然外的深刻宁静的气质。演奏时间也由原来的38分27秒放慢至51分15秒，特别是最后的咏叹调，他真的是在说，永别了，有种有意拖长的，令人揪心的口吻……
早先少数几个演奏过《哥德堡变奏曲》的钢琴家基本上都遵循老的传统。现在古尔德重又回到了早先的传统。但是这不是简单的回复，而是更高层次的扬弃。如作品以同一主题不断变奏的同度卡农、二度卡农、三度卡农直至九度卡农贯穿其中，互相之间安排性格不同的两个间播段进行对比，最后又回到“本体”——主题本身，这种既变化又统一，既和谐又对比，从一个本源出发，逐步发展，变形又回到本体，这一构想本身却具有更普遍、更广泛、更宏观的哲学内涵。正如黑格尔在《美学》中所说的，艺术在感性的面纱下揭示理念的发展，直到“看到更远的精神这一客观形式回转过来，把它扬弃，而后又返回自身”。
虽然，可以将古尔德1981年的版本，听成是他死前的永诀，如果仔细倾听，认真品味。我们发觉他的表情并没有过份的沉痛和悲哀，相反很宁静、深秋般的宁静。古尔德在巴赫的伟大音乐中，战胜了死亡，超越了自我，在生命最后时刻，似乎真正接受了上帝的福音。他知道自己已修成正果，成了名副其实的艺术圣徒。
他，从巴赫开始，以巴赫结束。
曲目介绍：
J. S. 巴赫的《哥德堡变奏曲》，BWV988，是巴赫著名的键盘作品，大约作于1741-1742年间。这部伟大的变奏曲原名叫做《有各种变奏的咏叹调》，1742年出版，此作为巴赫的学生哥德堡(Johan Theophil Goldberg)而作。哥德堡是侍奉当时驻在德累斯顿的俄国使臣凯瑟林(Hermann Karl Von Keyserlingk)伯爵的年轻演奏家。巴赫曾把他的《B小调弥撒》献给凯瑟林，因此而获得“宫廷音乐家”的封号。1741-1742年间，凯瑟林居住在莱比锡，让哥德堡师从巴赫，学习演奏技巧。伯爵患不眠症，失眠时就需哥德堡为其演奏，哥德堡以演奏需要，求巴赫帮助谱曲。巴赫当时作成这部变奏曲之后，凯瑟林送他一只装满100枚金路易的金杯以酬谢。
这是音乐史上规模最大，结构最恢宏，也是最伟大的变奏曲。这部变奏曲是为两层大键琴而作，巴赫在各段变奏里都指定了键盘的种类。变奏曲的形式，是以一个基本主题，引导出对比命题和对应（反对）命题，然后再探求演绎与对比的各种可能性。巴赫这部作品，以他1725年为安娜·玛格达琳娜而作的小曲集中的一首萨拉班德舞曲作为主题，发展成30段变奏。这30的数字，由3所支配，以3个成一组的变奏，以卡农的方式表达：一位齐声的卡农，二为二度卡农，三为三度卡农……此后达到第九个卡农后，第十变奏为四声部的赋格，之间不断出现创意曲、托卡它、咏叹调等各种形式。第一曾与第二层键盘交替。第十六变奏作为中心，速度分为前后两半，这种作曲技巧所构成的建筑结构之微妙，实在令人叹为观止！
这部作品共分32段，第一段以那首萨拉班德舞曲的主题开头，第32段是经过30段变奏后和缓地、平静地重新回到主题，不同的是第一段的简单主题经过30段变奏后，已变得异常丰富和复杂。
30段变奏分别是：
1.使用第一层键盘，二声部，前奏曲风格，拍子和调性与主题类同。
2.三声部，实用第一层键盘，上二声部暗示主题，低音不随基本旋律。
3.卡农，三声部，实用第一层键盘。
4.模仿前一变奏。
5.第一、第二层键盘交替表达。
6.第一层键盘的二度卡农。
7.第一、二层键盘交替表达，西西里舞曲风格。
8.使用第二层键盘，二声部，活泼的托卡它风格。
9.使用第一层键盘的三度卡农，三声部。
10.第一层键盘，四声部的小赋格。
11.使用第二层键盘的托卡它风格。
12.第一层键盘，四度卡农。
13.使用第二层键盘，抒情风格。
14.使用第二层键盘，活泼的前奏曲风格。
15.由原来一直的G大调转为G小调，第一层键盘，五度转位卡农，行板。
16.又变成G大调，前半部慢后半部快，序曲，把法国风格序曲的三段式改为两部：前半部为二声部前奏曲风格，行板；后半部为三声部小赋格，快板。
17.使用第二层键盘，二声部的托卡它风格。
18.使用第一层键盘的六度卡农。
19.使用第一层键盘，舞曲风格，三声部。
20.使用第二层键盘，具华丽的技巧。
21.七度卡农，部分使用半音阶。
22.托卡它风格，宁静的调子。
23.使用第二层键盘，模仿对位方式。
24.八度卡农，使用第一层键盘。
25.变成G小调，使用第二层键盘，浪漫的幻想曲性质，偏重于半音阶技法。
26.恢复G大调，前奏曲风格，慢拍和快拍子之间的旋律对比。
27.使用第二层键盘，九度卡农。
28.使用一贯的震音发挥华丽效果。
29.主调音乐样式，第一、第二层键盘交替。
30.使用第一键盘，标记是Quodlibet。Quodlibet是起源于中世纪的演唱方式，一种组合数首熟悉的民歌的乐曲。这里使用了17世纪意大利流行的民歌《被甘蓝和芜菁所追赶》和德国民歌《离开家已有许久》，使两者旋律以对位的方式互为缠绕。

Order Code: VAIA1029