Bach, J S: Goldberg Variations, BWV988

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Finch's… bold tone suits the haughty French Ouverture, she's fearless in the most taxing figurations and profoundly expressive in the meditative Variation 25. — BBC Music Magazine, March 2009, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 26th Jan 2009
Catalogue No: 4778097
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Length: 63 minutes

Bach, J S: Goldberg Variations, BWV988

Work length1:03:34

$35.20

$48.00

Catrin Finch (harp)
Recorded: 2008-03
Recording Venue: Acapela Arts Complex, Cardiff, Wales

1. Aria

Track length3:33

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$1.50

Var. 1 a 1 Clav.

Track length1:27

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Var. 2 a 1 Clav.

Track length1:59

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Var. 3 Canone all'Unisono a 1 Clav.

Track length1:26

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Var. 4 a 1 Clav.

Track length1:16

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Var. 5 a 1 ovvero 2 Clav.

Track length0:48

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Var. 6 Canone alla Seconda a 1 Clav.

Track length1:24

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Var. 7 a 1 ovvero 2 Clav.

Track length2:18

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Var. 8 a 2 Clav.

Track length0:59

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Var. 9 Canone alla Terza a 1 Clav.

Track length1:34

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Var. 10 Fughetta a 1 Clav.

Track length1:00

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Var. 11 a 2 Clav.

Track length0:57

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Var. 12 Canone alla Quarta

Track length2:10

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Var. 13 a 2 Clav.

Track length2:47

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Var. 14 a 2 Clav.

Track length1:11

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Var. 15 Canone alla Quinta in moto contrario

Track length3:48

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Var. 16 Ouverture a 1 Clav.

Track length3:37

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Var. 17 a 2 Clav.

Track length1:35

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Var. 18 Canone alla Sesta a 1 Clav.

Track length1:19

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Var. 19 a 1 Clav.

Track length1:16

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Var. 20 a 2 Clav.

Track length1:19

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Var. 21 Canone alla Settima (Arranged for Harp by Catrin Finch)

Track length2:12

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Var. 22 Alla breve a 1 Clav.

Track length1:30

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Var. 23 a 2 Clav.

Track length1:13

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Var. 24 Canone all'Ottava a 1 Clav.

Track length3:11

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Var. 25 a 2 Clav.

Track length7:12

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Var. 26 a 2 Clav.

Track length1:23

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Var. 27 Canone alla Nona

Track length1:53

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Var. 28 a 2 Clav.

Track length1:10

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Var. 29 a 1 ovvero 2 Clav.

Track length1:09

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Var. 30 Quodlibet a 1 Clav.

Track length2:05

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Aria

Track length2:53

$1.10

$1.50

About
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About

Catrin Finch, former Harpist to the Prince of Wales, has become one of her instrument’s foremost exponents. In bringing the harp to new audiences through performances and TV appearances, her energy and enthusiasm (as well as virtuosity and dedication to her instrument) has been endless. A recent appearance on BBC4, where she presented a definitive history of the instrument, confirmed her status as a star personality, as well as a star performer.

On this, her Deutsche Grammophon debut, Catrin tackles brand new arrangements of JS Bach’s Goldberg Variations, for solo harp. The clear sound of the harp brings this intricate and beautiful music to life in a delicate and unique fashion. Catrin plays throughout the UK during 2009 and will also undertake extensive promotion around the release of this album.

Reviews

March 2009

Finch's… bold tone suits the haughty French Ouverture, she's fearless in the most taxing figurations and profoundly expressive in the meditative Variation 25.

23rd January 2009

She adroitly side-steps what would seem to be the harp's principal shortcomings compared to a keyboard – the absence of a sustaining pedal and the lack of a damping device – with a nimbleness that quietly cossets and coaxes with its straightforward hand-for-hand transcription.

2010

Bach's Goldberg Variations have been arranged for everything from string orchestra to accordion with varying degrees of success – but never (complete, at any rate) for the harp. Suddenly we have two very different interpretations on that instrument released simultaneously.
Blassel's is an exquisite reading: the Aria is played almost with a surfeit of warmth and delicacy, as if to impress the potential of its material upon the listener from the outset so as to allow a fuller savouring of the ensuing variations – which are all, without exception, played with a great feeling for overall architecture and interior expressiveness that recalls Hewitt and Tureck in equal measure.
Welsh harpist Catrin Finch observes most of the repeats; tempi are generally on the brisk side; tonal and dynamic variation is minimal but telling when it occurs. Blassel observes no repeats (thus leaving room on the disc for the 14 Goldberg Canons, which Blassel performs with his former teacher Fabrice Pierre); tempi are generally measured, especially in the canonic variations; tonal and dynamic variation is maximal, as is the variety of articulation.
Perhaps it's to do with the differences between the instruments – Finch's modern harp is bright and thickly resonant; Blassel's 1904 Erard delicate and muted – but Finch's playing is more extrovert and forthright (although sometimes, as in Var 25, disappointingly prosaic), Blassel's more introvert and nuanced (you'll never hear a more magically delicate account of Var 28).
Either way, both versions have much to recommend them.

March 2009

…there's colour and drama aplenty - witness the grandeur and sweeping tirades of Variation 17.

15th February 2009

This is one of the stranger but most felicitous arrangements of a famous work to come my way. It was Schoenberg who once remarked that a good piece of music should still sound so even when transcribed for the zither — and this version, by Finch herself, of the Goldberg Variations comes close to taking him at his word. Not that Bach’s music doesn’t adapt brilliantly to the wildest transpositions of medium; and Finch plays with an eloquence to persuade one that the work was always destined to find this rapt, romantic context. She evinces high, hypnotic musicianship, which belies the somewhat irritating effect of no less than seven moody photos that we are offered.

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Bach, J S: Goldberg Variations, BWV988

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