Daniel Barenboim first recorded Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations for Westminster at age 16, and again in his late 30s for Deutsche Grammophon. His 1991 remake, reissued here, markedly improves on these two. Without a safety net, Barenboim hurls himself into Beethoven’s malestrom of ideas, stressing up the composer’s quick-change dynamics and cryptic rhythmic displacements with febrile intensity. In particular, the slower, introspective variations are grander in design yet calmly sustained. However, as in his DG traversal, Barenboim’s tone turns clangorous during the music’s loud stretches, pounding away at the climaxes without allowing them to resonate.
If Barenboim’s Diabellis are shot in black and white, his live 1989 Goldberg Variations are photographed in Technicolor Cinemascope. The pianist subjects Bach’s wide-ranging keyboard writing to the full pianistic monty. His wide dynamic range, tapered phrases, liberal pedaling, and rhetorical conceits translate Bach’s syntax into the beer-bellied language of Brahms. Apoggiaturas sometimes overstay their welcome, and there are a few textual curiosities too, like the added C-natural before the first section repeat of the canon at the unison. Barenboim observes all repeats (except for the Aria De Capo) yet rarely ornaments the movements on the second go-round. Murray Perahia, Andras Schiff, and Peter Serkin have proven that you can shade and color the Goldberg Variations on the piano without sacrificing contrapuntal clarity. There’s no doubt of the sincerity and authority governing Barenboim’s conception, but there’s an awful lot of piano playing going on.
