Whether or not Bach's keyboard music should be played on a modern piano is a subject that has been debated for so long there would appear to be nothing new to say about it. What should have been the last word was spoken long ago by Rosalyn Tureck. This music, she said, is essentially abstract, and can therefore be played on virtually anything.
Tureck's own legendary 1953 recording of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier is now available on four CDs from Deutsche Grammophon (463 305-2). You can read a mini-debate on its merits at www.amazon.com. Despite the boxed-in mono sound and some residual tape hiss, it is incomparable. The individual character Tureck gives to each of the 96 tracks is totally astonishing. It converted me overnight to what she calls "the bible of Western music."
Glenn Gould: A State of Wonder
Sony Classical Legacy
SM3K 87703
This repackaging of the two recordings Gould made of Bach's Goldberg Variations offers remastered versions of both. They date from 1955 and 1981 and are very different. But what is particularly valuable is the inclusion of a third, "bonus" CD. This contains the interview Gould gave to music critic and radio journalist Tim Page in 1982 discussing the two recordings. It's hilarious in places, but Gould's thoughts on Bach, and on his younger self playing this music, is something all music-lovers should possess. The first version was one of the most famous recordings ever made, selling in enormous numbers, often to people who'd never bought a classical record before and maybe never did again. But Gould in the interview is rather embarrassed by his youthful excesses, and some critics have indeed called his interpretation eccentric. Those who have long loved it will be hard to persuade of the 1981 version's superiority, however, especially with Gould singing along very audibly on many tracks. The "bonus" CD ends with 12 minutes of takes from the 1955 recording sessions during which Gould demonstrates how God Save the Queen and The Star-Spangled Banner can be played simultaneously so long as you begin half-way through the first. All in all, these three CDs are pure gold. They would make the ideal Christmas present for just about anyone you know, yourself included.
Volodos: Solo Piano Works
Sony Classical
SK 89647
Music promoters have for 20 years been struggling to find a pianist with the popular appeal of Glenn Gould. A current favorite is the 30-year-old Russian, Arcadi Volodos. Here he plays two Schubert sonatas, numbers 1 and 18, with great tenderness, and ends with Liszt's transcription of the penultimate song in Schubert's Die Schone Mullerin cycle in which the miller drowns himself. This sad ending is especially appropriate in that these recordings were the last ones made in Vienna's venerable Sofiensaal before it burnt down in 2001.
Murray Perahia: Songs without Words
Sony Classical
SK 66511
Murray Perahia: Bach Keyboard Concertos
Sony Classical
SK 89690
Perahia also includes four Liszt transcriptions of Schubert songs on the first of these CDs. The CD is otherwise occupied with 15 of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, so beloved of mid-19th century amateur and concert pianists, and four of Busoni's piano versions of Bach choral numbers. All items are played with Perahia's usual unostentatious artistry, and might even succeed in giving Mendelssohn's deceptively smooth-sounding style some new admirers.
The second CD contains Bach's keyboard concertos numbers 3, 5, 6 and 7, played on a piano by Perahia while simultaneously conducting London's Academy of St Martin in the Fields instrumentalists. These, usually referred to as Bach's Clavier Concertos, aren't the greatest music in the world, but Perahia plays their solo parts with wit and charm nonetheless.
Classic Perlman: Rhapsody
Sony Classical
SK 89449
Itzhak Perlman already has a large following in Taiwan, but this compilation CD, with several famous artists (Yo-Yo Ma, Daniel Barenboim) in attendance, will serve any newcomers as a convenient introduction to the warm-hearted violinist who plays sitting down due to a childhood bout of polio.
Morelenbaum2/ Sakamoto: Casa
Sony Classical
SK 89982
Opera Babes: Beyond Imagination
Sony Classical
SK 89916
These are two semi-classical items. The first consists of laid-back Brazilian songs, sometimes in Portuguese, sometimes in English sung by Paula Morelenbaum, accompanied by Jacques Morelenbaum (cello) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (piano). The items are beautifully recorded, if rather unvaried in style when heard one after another. The second CD is of famous opera arias with the addition of frequently brutal drumming. The Opera Babes may have been good enough for the 2002 World Cup organizers, but any genuine opera-lover will recognize them for what they are, an execrable travesty.
The Portuguese never established a presence on Taiwan, but they must have traded with the indigenous people because later traders reported that the locals referred to parts of deer using Portuguese words. What goods might the Portuguese have offered their indigenous trade partners? Among them must have been slaves, for the Portuguese dealt slaves across Asia. Though we often speak of “Portuguese” ships, imagining them as picturesque vessels manned by pointy-bearded Iberians, in Asia Portuguese shipping between local destinations was crewed by Asian seamen, with a handful of white or Eurasian officers. “Even the great carracks of 1,000-2,000 tons which plied
It’s only half the size of its more famous counterpart in Taipei, but the Botanical Garden of the National Museum of Nature Science (NMNS, 國立自然科學博物館植物園) is surely one of urban Taiwan’s most inviting green spaces. Covering 4.5 hectares immediately northeast of the government-run museum in Taichung’s North District (北區), the garden features more than 700 plant species, many of which are labeled in Chinese but not in English. Since its establishment in 1999, the site’s managers have done their best to replicate a number of native ecosystems, dividing the site into eight areas. The name of the Coral Atoll Zone might
On Monday morning, in quick succession, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) released statements announcing “that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and General Secretary Xi Jinping (習近平) have invited KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) to lead a delegation on a visit to the mainland” as the KMT’s press release worded it. The KMT’s press release added “Chairwoman Cheng expressed her gratitude for the invitation and has gladly accepted it.” Beijing’s official Xinhua news release described Song Tao (宋濤), head of the Taiwan Work Office of the CCP Central Committee, as
Nuclear power is getting a second look in Southeast Asia as countries prepare to meet surging energy demand as they vie for artificial intelligence-focused data centers. Several Southeast Asian nations are reviving mothballed nuclear plans and setting ambitious targets and nearly half of the region could, if they pursue those goals, have nuclear energy in the 2030s. Even countries without current plans have signaled their interest. Southeast Asia has never produced a single watt of nuclear energy, despite long-held atomic ambitions. But that may soon change as pressure mounts to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change, while meeting growing power needs. The
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