Largely through coincidence, I had three piano versions of the Goldberg
Variations in my hands last night:  Sergey Schepkin on Ongaku, Maria Yudina
on Philips, and Peter Serkin on RCA.

The most obvious note I made to myself before listening was that the Serkin
was only 44 minutes long; that means "forget the repeats." I also figured
that I would not be agreeable to the lack of repeats.

After listening to the three versions, my conclusions are:

a.  Yudina's aria and the other "slow" variations are superb.  She
presents them beautifully with a high level of emotion and even a sense
of urgency which I found compelling.  However, the faster variations were
very routine.  The sound has some hiss and breaks now and then.  That's no
problem when her interpretation is excellent, but it was bothersome in the
fast variations.

b.  Based on Schepkin's excellent discs of the partitas, I expected much
from him in the Goldbergs.  Expectations were dashed as Schepkin was on an
embellishment kick which annoyed me significantly.  His recording is not
recommended.

c.  That leaves Serkin.  Although I did not like the lack of repeats, his
disc is the best of the three.  Serkin is a superb pianist and does a great
job with Bach.  Details and emotions displayed were excellent.  He did not
express any urgency in the aria, but that was the only drawback and only
area where he was not superior to Yudina.  In addition, his coupling, the
Italian Concerto, was also played very well.  The fast movements were
particularly exciting.

I still can't get over how Schepkin, with full intent, ruined his
interpretation by being cute, by giving the indication that Bach is not
good enough, that he, Schepkin, will improve the work.  I can't understand
how he could have listened to the results with any satisfaction.  To put
it another way, if you are going to "mess with" a work, it would be a
good idea to do something which makes it distinctive, not fussy.

Don Satz
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