Denis Fodor provided some quotes of Joachim Kaiser's review of a Murray
Perahia Goldberg Variaitons concert:

>"Murray Perahia should not have dropped any of Bach's bars.  But that's
>what he did when he simply ignored the indicated repeats in
>the slow Variations."
>
>"Everything fast is repeated as prescribed.  But sadly not the
>lost-in-the-world slow parts.  Spiritual and emotional proportions
>of Bach's great music were thus damaged."

I don't know why Perahia would observe all repeats of fast variations and
observe none of the slower variations.  Maybe he was under a time crunch
or he didn't think his audience had the attention span to endure slow
variations with repeats or he just prefers the work played that way.  I
doubt he "simply ignored" the repeats; he must have given it some thought.

However, Perahia's approach does have significant impact on the music.
It becomes a "lighter" work of less emotional depth, and it alters the
symmetry/shape of the work.  I gererally prefer the Goldberg Variations
with all repeats observed, but I'm always more than willing to give a
different approach a fair hearing.  Most important, it's not how many
repeats are observed that's critical, but the artistry of the performance.

Don Satz
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