Greatest Hits / Glenn Gould

グレン・グールドの世界へようこそ──その孤高のピアニズムを堪能できる1枚。
死して27年、いまだにその人気が衰えることのないカナダ出身のピアニスト、グレン・グールド（1932-1982）。32歳にしてコンサート活動から引退し、以来録音とTVの世界に専念、伝統を読み直し、再構築してゆく斬新な視点は、今もなお聴き手に問題提起をし続けています。センセーションを巻き起こしたデビュー盤、ゴールドベルク変奏曲の1955年録音に始まり、同曲の1981年再録音で閉じられる当アルバムは、定評のあったバッハ作品に留まらない多彩な作曲家のソロ・ピアノ曲をコンパイル。 ［コメント提供；ソニー・ミュージック］
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Choosing the best tracks from pianist Glenn Gould's Columbia recordings for this greatest-hits CD must have been a daunting task, considering the variety of his projects and the peculiarities of his taste. Certainly there would need to be selections taken from his legendary recordings of works by J.S. Bach, particularly from his two celebrated recordings of the Goldberg Variations (1955 and 1981, respectively), the Italian Concerto, the English Suite No. 1, and the Two-Part and Three-Part Inventions, but there were many other byways the eccentric Canadian pianist went down. With a repertoire that included keyboard works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Orlando Gibbons, Domenico Scarlatti, Alexander Scriabin, Jean Sibelius, and Richard Strauss, among other composers, Gould established a reputation for making eclectic choices that nonetheless suited his penetrating intellect and emotional temperament. The dates of the recordings span the years 1955 to 1982, bookending his career, so the sound substantially varies from the extremely soft levels of the first eight tracks, to the much clearer sound of the later offerings. Naturally, being a Gould album, there are several spots where his humming and extraneous noises are quite noticeable, especially at a higher-than-middle volume, so if this quirk proves distracting, then be sure to keep the volume control at the ready.