J.S.Bach: Goldberg Variations BWV.988＜限定盤＞

当時、激務のために不眠症に陥っていたカイザーリンク伯爵の"眠れない夜を慰めるための曲"というリクエストにより、作られた"アリアとその変奏"で構成される「ゴルドベルク変奏曲」。バッハによる「クラヴィーア練習曲」の最終章でもあるこの曲は、バロックから古典派につながる架け橋ともなるような構造美あふれる佳曲。ただし、もともとが二段式の鍵盤を持つクラヴィーアで演奏されることを前提に作られているので、ピアノで演奏することが難しい変奏も含まれています。全てのピアニスト、ピアノ音楽ファンが愛するこの曲に、満を持してアレクサンドル・タローが対峙します。的確で安定したテンポ、特にメリハリの強弱をつけた左手の動きは、この作品の新しい感覚をわたしたちに埋め込まれるはずです。この新録音を、アナログLPとして限定生産し発売いたします。
ワーナーミュージック・ジャパン

The pianist Alexandre Tharaud reportedly withdrew for months from concert life to prepare for this recording of Bach's monumental Goldberg Variations, BWV 988. His efforts are evident in the performance, in which every variation has some carefully considered turn. What keeps the performance from seeming fussy is Tharaud's attention to overall architecture, which is original and even bold. He is circumspect in the earlier variations, playing precisely and a bit deliberately. The work's climaxes come not in the slow variations in the later part of the work, which here are more nocturnes than mysterious oracles that seek to break on through to the other side, but in the faster variations, whose increasing contrapuntal density is unerringly detailed and spun into colors of deeper brilliance. It's hard to pick out one variation that gives the flavor of a performance as well-woven as this one, but sample the later canons, where Tharaud's left hand radiates forth brilliantly. Fine sound from Erato/Warner Classics engineers, working at the Aix-en-Provence Conservatory, is a major attraction, as is the presence of a DVD that shows Tharaud's intense concentration memorably. A major breakthrough for this artist, and a worthwhile Goldberg Variations by any standard.