For Bach, his Goldberg Variations were a 'practise-piece,' leaving others to claim it was a 'portrayal of existence itself' and, as a corollary, music of 'pathos, audacity, drama, thoughtful reflection and breathtaking virtuosity.' Unlike commentators, composers are disinclined to offer an exegesis of their art, happy for their music to be allowed its own voice, to speak for itself. Long after Bach, Chopin was to describe the finale of his B flat minor Sonata as ' two voices chattering together in unison,' while others, more poetically inclined, heard 'winds whistling over grave yards' when not seeing 'a network of rooks in the twilight.' Objective or subjective, you are left with an element of enigma.
More definitely, Bach's Goldberg Variations are among the greatest masterpieces in all keyboard literature. For long confined to dusty archives they are now in the repertoires of a great many pianists, tempted and exhilarated rather than daunted by their immense challenge. Over the years there are have been many recordings telling you of a wide variety of interpretations. Chief among these are the two recordings by Glenn Gould(he preferred the second, finding the first overly pianistic) who turned any conventional or conservative notions of Bach topsy- turvy. For Vadimir Ashkenazy Gould's Bach was a revelation of freshness and vitality sweeping away the cobwebs of tradition and particularly moribund Russian tradition. Others responded with a mix of awe and qualification. An additional teaser was supplied by Gould's writing, his description of the Goldberg as 'music which observes neither end nor beginning, music with neither real climax nor real resolution, music which, like Baudelaire's lovers rests lightly on the wings of the unchecked wind.' While many were left in wonder, others responded with outrage.
Then there was Roslyn Tureck('high priestess of Bach,' questioning 'why play others when there is Bach?'), as slow and inward as Gould was fast and mercurial Others have followed down the years, including Murray Perahia, Pavel Kolesnikov, Beatrice Rana and Vikundra Olafsson(to name but four).
And now we have Yunchan Lim, fearless and challenging at twenty-one. His two previous London appearances, both in 2023, were triumphs, the first relatively sober (no Chopin Etudes, no Liszt Transcendental Etudes as in his previous success at the Van Cliburn competition) and the second was devoted to the Goldberg Variations, once more a startling choice for a young pianist, though one already launched on a glittering career trajectory. Here, his legendary virtuosity was matched by a range of colour and nuance that lifted Bach from the eighteenth century into the nineteenth and, indeed, the twentieth century with inflections of a virtually Chopinesque romanticism, and if the performance left purists with their eyebrows raised, others rejoiced in such imaginative freedom and flexibility.
So how does Lim's recording of the Goldberg, taken live from New Yorks' Carnegie Hall in 2025, compare? Decca's sound is bright and clear, emphasizing Lim's fierce clarity and propulsion. As on previous occasions I found myself rejoicing in his way with the opening Aria, as bold and clear-sighted as it is deeply felt, in his confident stride through variation 1 and the dizzying yet ultra- precise whirl through those variations calling for optimum virtuosity. In variations 13 you hear a romantic yielding that, again, could make conservative or conformist listeners uneasy, taken out of and beyond their comfort zone. And what of variation 25, Landowska's 'black pearl,' a bleak and profound utterance centuries ahead of its time?
Here, Lim is characteristically forthright but inclusive.
Overall, I would have liked a deeper human engagement to complement Lim's high-flying assurance and command. There were times when I found myself retreating from the glare of his brilliance, from playing more brightly lit from without than within.
But let me be clear. Lim's gift is immense, already pitched at a frighteningly high level. But the leap from anonymity to spot- lit super- stardom is not without its dangers There have been too many pianists, confused by image and reality, who have been both elated and damaged by their success. My dearest wish is that Yunchan Lim will maintain a sense of perspective in what is already a tumultuous career.
I should perhaps add that Decca' s presentation is lavish, and contains no less than fourteen photographs of the pianist.
Bryce Morrison