Following last year’s completion of his highly-praised Beethoven cycle András Schiff returns to Bach with a superb interpretation of the six “Partitas”, recorded live in September 2007 at Neumarkt Reitstadl one of the best piano music venues in Eurpoe. The cycle, which in 1731 was the first group of works to be published by Bach himself, represents a unique stylistic synthesis of the suite form with a particular emphasis on most varied and imaginative opening movements. In his 1802 biography of Bach, Nikolaus Forkel famously wrote that “such splendid compositions for the clavier had not been seen or heard before… so brilliant, harmonious, expressive and constantly novel are they.” Compared to his London studio recording of 1983 this second rendering on disc demonstrates Schiff’s stylistic development towards more freedom, sonic depth and sheer pleasure of phrasing. The rather unorthodox sequence of partitas – 5 – 3 – 1 – 2 – 4 – 6 – draws an ascending line of keys leading from G major to e minor.

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Gould’s first recording with orchestra, and his first studio collaboration with Leonard Bernstein, fourteen years his senior. “During the first portion of the concerto, Mr. Gould slid out from behind the piano and loped casually about the hall. He shook his head, waved his arms, beat time, and acted generally in a manner that any conductor less accustomed to the ways of genius might have found trying in the extreme. Bernstein took no notice.

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为了录制他的第一张唱片《哥德堡变奏曲》，古尔德于1955年6月来到设在纽约东三十街207号一座废弃的长老会教堂中的哥伦比亚录音室。他还随身带来了一大堆稀奇古怪的私人物件，其中有他的专用椅子，是他父亲为他做的，坐在这张椅子上他离地只有14英寸，这样他的手腕就能保持在与钢琴键相同或者低于琴键的高度。赫伯特·古尔德说：“我设法找到了一把相当轻便的折叠椅，然后我把椅子的每条腿锯去约4英寸并且包上黄铜托架，用螺丝钉上，然后把半个螺丝扣焊在铜托架上，这样就能分别调节每条腿。”尽管天气很暖和，他却带来了一大堆毛衣和围巾，另外他还带着各式各样的药片。他弹琴时，经常是一只手击键，用另一只手打拍子。另外他的嘴里还不停地唱着、哼着、叹息着。古尔德有充足的理由来解释自己的古怪行为——比如说带着自己的小矮凳总比每到一个新城市时都要去找一把同样的椅子方便得多，另外围巾和药片都表明他对自己不稳定的健康状况感到担忧，而这种心情是可以理解的——但在许多人眼里，所有这些都纯属怪癖，不是出于一种想要自我放纵的疯狂欲望就是想哗众取宠，提高知名度。或许这都是一回事。哥伦比亚公司急于想为它的神童作宣传，不但把他作为才华横溢的钢琴家，而且把他作为一个怪人来宣传。
那张非同凡响的唱片一共包括三十段变奏，封面上是穿着衬衫的年轻古尔德的30张小照，或弹，或唱，或解说，或聆听，或争论——那套唱片改变了许多人的生活，改变了一种护身符，某种在外层空间被发现并带回地球的神秘的东西。当然它也在商业上创造了一个奇迹。1956年，即这张唱片推出的那一年，它的销量在古典唱片中排名第一，在这之后的四分之一世纪中它被不断地再版，唯一想让它停止再版的人是古尔德自己，在去世前不久他重新录制了这部作品。尽管这样还是有些人更喜欢听原来的版本，更喜欢22岁时那个狂妄自信的古尔德，那个觉得、相信、知道他无所不能的才华横溢的年轻钢琴家，而不是50岁时扭扭捏捏的古尔德。
（奥托·弗里德里克著《格伦·古尔德的生活与艺术》魏柯玲 刘莉 译 人民音乐出版社 2006年5月1版）

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Glenn Gould (piano)

Instead of Leonard Bernstein, the Columbia Symphony Orchestra was fronted this time by Vladimir Golschmann. Born in Paris to Russian emigres in 1893 and head of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra from 1931, Golschmann was one of the few conductors with whom Gould apparently never had problems, and vice versa. In the Beethoven concerto Gould played his own cadenza - with a noticeable nod to Max Reger...

In December 1979 Gould’s longstanding producer Andrew Kazdin left Columbia. Gould produced his final recordings himself, beginning with this Bach album in January and February 1980. The cover shows Gould in the corner of a bare dilapidated room – more like the snapshot of a vagrant than the portrait of a pianistic genius. A doomsday scenario …