Bach: Goldberg Variations BWV 988

Talik3 is a very astute listener and right on the money regarding the acoustics and recording setting. This performance WAS recorded in a very small room - a dining room within a home. It was recorded at the Connecticut home of William F. Buckley (editor of the National Review) as a "birthday present" to him from Tureck!! Thus, reverberation is minimal and miking was very close up (even closer than that achieved in a studio setting) which leads to a very intimate setting and a detailed and distinguished articulation of each note. I've also listened to performances that are recorded in a hall with reverberation, resulting in the acoustics of an open and spacious soundstage. Both have their own merits and can be equally enjoyable. Personally, for a relaxed listening I prefer Tureck's performance; for a tour de force performance, the spacious and reverberant soundstage of a hall performance is second to none. You can't go wrong with either type of performance. Only you can decide which is more appropriate for you and may even depend on the your mood at the time of listening.

If you don't care about the sound quality, this is an amazing performance, the most fluent and diverse of all of tureck's (many) "goldberg" performances. The piano sounds dry, too close to the mic, and has no resonance, as if placed in a very small room (The original CD was tagged "AAD"). To me, that doesn't take from the sheer beauty of the performance, to others, it might.

The finest recording of the Goldberg Variations ever made. A Rosette Award from the "Penguin Guide to Classical Music" and a desert island disc for the authors. I could not agree more. Rosalyn Tureck is called the "High Priestess of Bach" and this recording indicates why. Her subtle touches, kaleidoscope of tonal colors, and the way it all "hangs together" from the beginning through variation to variation to the end is truly mesmerizing. If you are a big fan of the Goldberg Variations, do yourself a favor and buy this disc. You want regret it.