US TARIFFS UPDATE | August 2025 | No impact expected on your Presto orders | Read full details
JS Bach: Goldberg Variations
Daniel-Ben Pienaar (piano)
as different as can be - yet without ever sounding contrived or perverse...Simply put, he makes the Goldbergs sound more like that other supreme set of piano variations, Beethoven's Diabelli...
JS Bach: Goldberg Variations
Daniel-Ben Pienaar (piano)
Purchase product
as different as can be - yet without ever sounding contrived or perverse...Simply put, he makes the Goldbergs sound more like that other supreme set of piano variations, Beethoven's Diabelli...
About
Having opened the eyes and ears of the classical music world with his recording of the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas (AV2209), Daniel-Ben Pienaar offers further revelations with J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations, complemented with Fourteen Canons, BWV1087 and Bist du bei mir. Pianist Daniel-Ben Pienaar opened the eyes and ears of the classical music world with his release of Mozart’s complete Piano Sonatas (AV2209), earning plaudits such as Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice and CD of the Week from The Sunday Times. His recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations is destined to do the same. Pienaar’s probing intellectual interpretation combines with his dazzling finger work and perfect pianistic touch, to deliver a classic recording of Bach’s evergreen Goldbergs. As a bonus, he includes Fourteen Canons BWV1087, based on the first eight bass notes of the Goldberg’s Aria, and Bist du bei mir from Bach’s Anna Magdalena Notebook, where the Aria from the Goldberg Variation first appeared.
Contents and tracklist
Awards and reviews
December 2011
as different as can be - yet without ever sounding contrived or perverse...Simply put, he makes the Goldbergs sound more like that other supreme set of piano variations, Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, than other pianist has. Several of these Goldbergs had me smiling, and a few of them made me laugh...this new recording is indispensable for anyone who love the work
January 2012
By avoiding repeats and opting for fleet tempi, Pienaar produces a breathless, highly energised reading, and has room at the end of the cycle to include the 14 Canons on the bass of the Goldberg aria...These extras elicit some of Pienaar's finest playing, and it's disconcerting but in the end satisfying to hear the canons, discovered in 1974, added to the cycle as if they constitute a final, deconstructive commentary.
