Anne Francis
Piano Tuner-Technician
Music men… November 6th, 2011
Everybody’s talking about Walter Isaacson’s new biography of Steve Jobs. About Jobs’ drive, his mania for control, his brilliance, and his legacy…
To me, one of the most interesting things about the man is that he thought about stuff like the differences between Glenn Gould’s two recordings of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, made in 1955 and in 1981.
In Chapter 32, entitled “Music Man,” Isaacson quotes Jobs as saying he always preferred Gould’s earlier recording, but that recently he had come to appreciate the more introspective, later version of the aria, which Gould played at about half the tempo of the earlier recording (or, if you prefer, twice as slowly).
Which one do you prefer? You can listen and compare here.
(Thanks are due, once again, to my source of much interesting musical information, CBC Radio 2…)
With all the current comments about Steve Jobs, I’ve never heard this!
your knowledge of music amazes me,
and it is so nice of you to share the links.
I will listen to both version.
merci bien.
I much prefer the latter of Gould’s Goldberg Variations. I think it’s much more mature, is a bit less obviously percussive, and has a much warmer sound.
He died a short time after making that recording…. someone I know who knew Gould said it was his chosen way of saying good-bye.