András Schiff on his journey with the Goldberg Variations

[@quaver1239]

How I do love hearing this man speak! I become all ears; they drink in every word. Thank you so, so much, Musikalisches Opfer.

[@musikalischesopfer]

You are welcome!🎶 Maestro gives some interesting insights about his journey with this Masterpiece

[@dorotheasluik3578]

Same for me, every word you wrote!

[@fido652]

Yes. The fountainhead. Wisdom in every word.

[@fido652]

How nice to have an interviewer who gives the speaker time to speak without constantly jumping in. Well done, Kirsty

[@amystruble4730]

Andras Schiff is such a treasure! I admire and respect him so much!

[@idaazarian9518]

I couldn't agree more !

[@ProgRockKeys]

At 66 years old, I just realized that I did not have a favorite pianist. I do have one now, having finally discovered Sir Schiff.

[@prometheusrex1]

For Bach, also consider the great Roslyn Turek.

[@musiclover4311]

Sir Andras is a genius and decades ago, his lecture inspired me to start the day with JSB at the keyboard.

[@musikalischesopfer]

What a wonderful witness!🎶

[@colinboston5962]

Wonderful to listen to Andras talk about the Variations. So clear and concise and leaves the listener with a great understanding of his music particularly this Bach. Thank you .

[@musikalischesopfer]

You are welcome!🎶

[@glenngould7229]

Thank you so much for uploading this!

[@musikalischesopfer]

You are very welcome!🎶

[@wesmlr]

incredible interview. i love listening to him speak about bach, schiff has an amazing understanding of him

[@yooniecho6394]

Thank you so much for posting this!

[@musikalischesopfer]

You are welcome! :)

[@mencken8]

Who would have thought I have any experience in common with Mr. Schiff. When young, although I had listened to recordings of great music, it was Glenn Gould’s 1955 Columbia Masterworks recording of the Goldberg Variations that changed my outlook on music, and permanently. (And I say this as a non-musician.)

[@musikalischesopfer]

Wonderful witnessing!🎶

[@GabrielSousa-nh3ib]

Brilhante, maravilhoso e belíssimo!

[@bryanbarajasBB]

Beautiful interview!

[@musikalischesopfer]

Agree!🎶

[@ricforest3879]

I listen often to Andras Schiff, to me his second recording of the 48 is the best ever among all pianists. I would love so much for him to comment on Wilhelm Kempff recording of the Goldberg. I discovered the Goldberg Variations thanks to that recording and still love Kempff singing tone and legato very much.

[@musikalischesopfer]

It is a wonderful recording! I do have to admit that I prefer less pedal in Bach as a golden rule, but it is truly inspired and inspiring🤩🎶

[@musikalischesopfer]

And I also have to say that I love what he does with the Aria!

[@ricforest3879]

@@musikalischesopfer Thank you for this! Yes lots of pedal at times, Var 11 sounds like a romantic piece! but so beautiful 🙂

[@davidchan7531]

Bach is a musical alien, where everyone is in wonder

[@GabrielSousa-nh3ib]

Brilliant!

[@janevonmaltzahn2667]

Bach reincarnated himself as Anrás Schiff so that our age would know how his music was supposed to sound.

[@prometheusrex1]

Lol

[@TheDavidlloydjones]

Wonderful! I, too, thought the first Glenn Gould version was a wonder when I heard it in perhaps 1958, I'm not sure. I'm left with the eerie feeling that Gould gave himself permission to die, mission accomplished, after he made the second version. Sad to say, it might be an exaggeration to say that Gould destroyed the Variations for every pianist who came after -- but certainly he set a very very high standards which many fine players are better advised not to try to challenge.

[@musikalischesopfer]

I think him and Wanda Landowska truly gave the recognition that this work deserves. Glenn Gould surely made it “pop” (in the best sense of the term), and brought to it the attention of the great public. I personally do not agree on many of his choices, but still his recording remains a milestone🎶

[@simonparker4992]

I think that's an exaggeration. Certainly Perahia's version is every bit as good as Gould's, I think.

[@simonparker4992]

And actually, I'd quite like to hear Lang Lang's, given his clear love for the work.

[@danielreed2868]

The 1981 recording is burned into my brain and I get angry when I hear a different recording......

[@MrWhiteKeys1]

This guy is my ELVIS!!!

[@Moravaginable]

The interviewer is not up to the task, but fortunately Schiff has intelligence to spare.

[@ChrisWrightOM1]

Really? She prompts Schiff, then lets him speak in his own time, never interrupting him.

[@renzo6490]

He speaks like.... Peter Lorre

[@soozb15]

Hungarian accent! I think it sounds rather sweet

[@renzo6490]

@@soozb15 : I suppose it is rather sweet. I hang on his every word !

[@darrylschultz9395]

@renzo6490 Hanging on his every word is fine, as long as you remember to stop when he says the word "rope"!

[@renzo6490]

@@darrylschultz9395 Witty.

[@darrylschultz9395]

@@renzo6490 Thanks.😳------👌😬

[@fido652]

Silence from the audience? They applaud while the pianist still has their hands on the keys. All quiet endings are always everywhere ruined, presumably by people who believe they have enjoyed the concert and can't contain their enthusiasm! Fools everywhere.

[@papagen00]

I am not afraid to admit I don't like Bach.

[@musikalischesopfer]

Thank you for your honesty!

[@fido652]

Start with the more melodic pieces, some of the arias perhaps from Matthew Passion, or the slow movement of the Double Concerto. Surely you don't dislike the C major prelude?!

[@leonardrecker5377]

schiff is amazing but the interviewer is just asking dull and bland questions... Thanks for uploading tho!

[@Paroles_et_Musique]

Absolutely, it shows the disconnection between amateurs and professionnels. What would be helpful to know is how he practices new and old works, how he memorizes them (at piano, out of piano), what he thinks about non tonal music and why he never plays it, and such things which differ from one musician to another. Who cares about why Goldberg are called Goldberg, that is so stupid.

[@Piratebreadstick]

As do most of them. Such around -the -dinner- table questions from someone's dull uncle.

[@hoorooblu]

This interview is about his performing at The Proms, rather than an interview about his life. The BBC interviewer, Kirsty Wark, is setting up the non-specialist at-home audience for Schiff's music in just one concert of their BBC Proms concert series: just one of 70 live concerts, broadcast on BBC radio between Mid-July and early Sept every year. This is discussing his FIRST performance of the Goldbergs in the Royal Albert Hall in front of Prommers (afficionados of the Proms) ("this is something very, very special" he says). Telling the radio audience that his Prom programme is being played from memory helps them to 'see' and makes sure that this is appreciated. She is very well known on the BBC for politics and culture reporting. She is more often an interviewer of Prime Ministers and Ministers of State but also high-level people in all walks of life. Here, she is not running a music masterclass for music afficionados but working within the BBC's "Reithian values" of 'educate, inform and entertain'. Schiff was also being televised which is an indicator of the esteem in which he is held. Proms only televise a dozen or two of the concerts but the Radio 3 and the BBC World Service broadcasts all of them (in a sparkling good technical effort.) Prom audiences tend to be very silent until the last note dies away in the hall, so he probably got his wish for silent appreciation at the end of his performance. I heard his prom of the WTC Vol2 and the silence was magical before the avalanche of applause at the end.

[@Claude_van]

@@Paroles_et_Musique or it shows the disconnection between the media ruling class and the people.

[@hoorooblu]

@@Claude_van BBC's Kirsty Wark was well paid but, like all BBC workers, she worked in the service of the nation (there are no shareholders in the BBC. The BBC is more like the media equivalent of doing service in the US Marines but with fewer guns and better makeup.) It is just like the British National Health Service (NHS) which is the civilian version of an army medical corps. Like the army, it is paid from a type of tax so it serves everyone at no direct cost to the all the people who benefit. They are somewhat like other civilian service providers e.g. School teachers and social workers (employed in non-shareholder corporations which try to educate inform and entertain/engage communities in different ways.) Rupert Murdoch and other media types do lure away some BBC workers but many serve us via the BBC, for their whole career.

[@robinthomsoncomposer]

This interviewer is terrible and almost spoilt a good interview which it only ended up being so because Andras made it so

[@subplantant]

Yes the gulf in quality between this interview and the Sue Lawley one from 1999 on this channel is both deep and wide.