It takes some mental adjustment to hear Bach's Goldberg Variations played on a harp, but Welsh harpist Catrin Finch has done an exceptional job with both her arrangement and her performance of Bach's keyboard masterpiece. Her arrangement is sensitive to the musical and the emotional values of the music; she successfully translates the sense of technical difficulty and the expressive depths of the original, and her playing is superb. The listener is fully aware of the challenges of Finch's arrangement, and of the graceful ...
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It takes some mental adjustment to hear Bach's Goldberg Variations played on a harp, but Welsh harpist Catrin Finch has done an exceptional job with both her arrangement and her performance of Bach's keyboard masterpiece. Her arrangement is sensitive to the musical and the emotional values of the music; she successfully translates the sense of technical difficulty and the expressive depths of the original, and her playing is superb. The listener is fully aware of the challenges of Finch's arrangement, and of the graceful virtuosity and expressiveness with which she executes them. The joy, sorrow, wit, humor, and sublime beauty of the original are all present in her performances. Purists may have little patience with the idea of a transcription, but other listeners may be won over by the sheer loveliness of Finch's playing.Deutsche Grammophon's digital sound is cool, clear, and vivid. ~ James Leonard, Rovi
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Add this copy of Bach: Goldberg Variations to cart. $17.75, fair condition, Sold by Service First Media rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Taylorsville, KY, UNITED STATES, published 2009 by Deutsche Grammophon.
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Seller's Description:
Fair. Ex-Library rental. Disc(s) are professionally cleaned and may contain only light scratches that do not effect functionality. Includes disc(s), case, and artwork. May be missing booklet. Disc(s), case, and artwork may contain library/security stickers and ink writing. ARTWORK IS UNORIGINAL AND PRINTED BY LIBRARY. Case and artwork may show some wear. Case may not be an original jewel case. All disc(s) are authentic.
One of Catrin Finch's aims is to make works that were originally written for other instruments, eg. piano concertos and sonatas, available to harpists; hence she took on the huge task of adapting Bach's Goldberg Variations for the concert harp. She admitted that it was the most difficult project she had ever embarked upon. The result is a resounding success. Those who admire the work of Glenn Gould will thoroughly enjoy this adaptation. In the same way that pianist Gould would talk through his performance, so Catrin Finch seems to converse with her instrument. In many of the variations, the 7th for example, one might say that the quality of the harp's clear tone surpasses that of the piano. Because of the nature of the instrument, some of the variations are technically very difficult to play; yet Catrin Finch masters them all. This is truly an impressive recording.
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