I have now listened to Gould's recording of 1981 and to a harpsichord
version by Kirkpatrick.

Why is Gould's second version touching me more than his first? Sometimes
he still seems hectic to me, sometimes his humming (or singing?) distracts
me seriously.  But then there is the Aria in a much slower pace, the notes
coming as if walking cautiously, a profound meditation, a divine voice
speaking to my very soul.  This slow Aria is beginning and end of a cycle
of variations that seem to me in this version to be much more a unit than
in Gould's first try.  It is a kosmos ending and beginning in the most
humane Yes the Aria seems to say in my eyes (or better ears) to life.
It is as if all faults and mistakes of life are pardoned.

The same feeling overcomes me when I listened to Kirkpatrick.  I bought
this recording to test my dislike of the harpsichord - and, well, fell in
love with its sound.  It is strange but lovely, something quite different
than the piano, more festive to me, more celebratory - but that surely is
very subjective a view.

Listening to the Variations now for a week and ever again having a most
touching sensation when the Aria touches me for the second time I thought
about why I listen to music.  Nietzsche said life without music would be
a mistake.  I think we all on the list agree.  But why? I think music
can touch us because it is beyond word and thought.  Yes, this is banal,
I know.  But it is the reason why music (and poetry) is soul food for me,
soul food as enjoying young children playing or glancing at trees in bloom.
Music is entertainment for me but more than this it is comfort.  It ensures
me that I am not on the wrong track when believing that this life of
functioning, of speed, of work and stress is not the only life there is.
There is the world of emotion, too, and it has its right and it should
enrich and change the world of roles and functions.  Music like the
Variations tells me that and this is a comfort.  It is like a companion,
a talisman in dark hours (and jolly ones).  It is good to have a soul that
can be moved, it is right to be human.  That is the message of music for
me, of Bach's and Mozart's at least.  And without this message life would
indeed be a mistake.

Robert Peters
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