I have been enjoying Kenneth Gilbert's new recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations. His is a relaxed and refined account of the music, gentler and less impulsive than Trevor Pinnock on Archiv Produktion and, partly for these reasons, less overtly virtuosic. Gilbert explains in a short but helpful note on the sleeve how and why he set about omitting several of the repeats in the variations. He observes them in the Canons, for example, so that listeners can follow the lead melody first time round and concentrate on the canonic answer in the repeats. He also observes them where the first and second time bars differ, thus ensuring that not a single note of Bach's music is omitted; and he plays repeats in several shorter variations where their omission might appear almost dismissive. It is, in fact, all eminently sensible except that when listening to performances on this artistic level I find myself regreting the omission of any repeats at all. In the context of a public recital it is, of course, another matter but, on a record and, as I say, one that contains musicianship of this calibre, I feel a little hard done by. I did, for example, miss the repeats of the rippling 3/4 Var. 5. Neither Gilbert nor Pinnock repeats the sections of the Aria; thereafter Pinnock omits 13 repeats and Gilbert 12, but only on three occasions do their choice of cuts coincide.
One of the features that I particularly liked in Gilbert's performance was his emphasis on the dance element in the music and the natural grace with which he applies appoggiaturas as, for instance, in the quaver figures of Var. 26. It's the French side of his artistry, I suppose, which enables him to highlight these aspects of Bach's music so effectively: Var. 19 is a good example of what I mean, whilst Var. 11 provides an instance of Gilbert's feeling for eloquent articulation. I was impressed, too, by his profound account of Var. 25, the darkest of the comparatively rare excursions in G minor which Bach makes in this work. In short, there is a remarkable agility, both technical and intellectual, in Gilbert's playing of the Goldberg Variations and he succeeds in communicating with his audience in a notably informed manner. Perhaps he is at his strongest in the more obviously French orientated movements such as the Overture of Var. 16 or the somewhat Rameau-like Var. 23, which at its outset vividly recalls, La joyeuse (1724).
The harpsichord which Gilbert plays for this recording was built recently by Hubert Bedard after a Ruckers-Taskin housed in Paris. The sound is noticeably warmer than that engineered by Archiv Produktion for Trevor Pinnock's performance but, whilst I find that balance a little too close, Harmonia Mundi seem to have ended up with a slightly muffled sound which takes a little getting used to. The detail is there and I certainly prefer its more natural sounding perspective, but it requires some aural adjustment and listeners may regret a lack of immediate clarity. But they will not, I think, regret much else. My LP pressing was of such excellence that the CD has little more to offer in respect of background silence. Warmly recommended.'