David Fray – Bach, JS꞉ Goldberg Variations (2021) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

David Fray adds a landmark of the solo keyboard repertoire to his Bach discography: the Goldberg Variations. “The Goldberg Variations are a real test,” he says. “They are the work of a lifetime, perhaps a work about life itself … a kind of rite of passage, a journey. Every element of human life is in them … When you play the theme again after the 30 variations, in its original purity, it is as if you’re at the end of your life, looking back over everything that has happened in the last hour-and-a-half. Few works give such a sense of eternity”.

David Fray, returning to his beloved Johann Sebastian Bach, invites us to join him on a salutary personal journey. His Goldberg Variations is unlike any other: their romanticised aesthetic reveals the French pianist’s desire to bring to life the architectural perfection of the thirty-two pieces. He boldly opts for strong contrasts of tempo, accents and phrasing which might sound more at home in more contemporary works. Here, each variation is a part of a whole, but always self-sufficient, too. David Fray constantly plays on this tension between the fleeting pleasure of the moment and the final resolution, the infinite: and all the while, he is seeking to identify a character, a feeling, that can define each of the pieces. He does not hesitate to take us deep into the expressive meanderings that the Leipzig Cantor worked into these variations. The result is a rich and exciting vision, which will undoubtedly resonate with the listener’s own shifting and changing moods.

It should be emphasised that this performance is marked by astonishingly precise piano playing, in the attacks and chosen articulations of the pianist. Take, for example, the airy Var. 26 or the agility of Var. 29. Or, again, the Fughetta of Var. 10, or Var. 8, with its clear differences in articulation between exposition and reprise, and it’s very subtle accelerations. The Cantor’s dense and complex polyphony shines through at every turn. The rhythmic patterns are also more varied, as if David Fray was trying to find a little dance in each passage, rather like Scarlatti in his 30 Essercizi per gravicembalo, or to reveal more fully the spirit of improvisation that may have guided the composition. The long and unusual resonance between the final Quodlibet and the return of the Aria convinces us of the uniqueness of this new version of the Goldberg Variations, performed in Barbazan-Debat at the beginning of June 2021, not far from the Pyrenees National Park, and rendered all the greater by Jean-Marc Laisné’s spellbinding sound recording – Pierre-Yves Lascar

Tracklist:
01. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Aria
02. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 1
03. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 2
04. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 3. Canone all’unisono
05. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 4
06. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 5
07. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 6. Canone alla seconda
08. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 7. Al tempo di giga
09. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 8
10. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 9. Canone alla terza
11. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 10. Fughetta
12. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 11
13. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 12. Canone alla quarta
14. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 13
15. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 14
16. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 15. Canone alla quinta in moto contrario
17. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 16. Ouverture
18. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 17
19. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 18. Canone alla sesta
20. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 19
21. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 20
22. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 21. Canone alla settima
23. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 22. Alla breve
24. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 23
25. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 24. Canone all’ottava
26. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 25
27. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 26
28. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 27. Canone alla nona
29. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 28
30. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 29
31. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 30. Quodlibet
32. David Fray – Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Aria da capo

Download:

mqs.link_DavidFrayBachJSG0ldbergVariati0ns20212496.part1.rar
mqs.link_DavidFrayBachJSG0ldbergVariati0ns20212496.part2.rar

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