Leave it to Glenn Gould to prove Goethe wrong. The German writer/philosopher once said, "first thought, best thought," and anyone who's ever had to try to recreate a moment that was just right the first time knows how true that saying is. But Gould, the brilliant, eccentric Canadian pianist, returned in 1981 (the recording came out the next year, the year of his untimely death) to a piece he had already recorded to almost seismic effect back in 1955 — and showed that a quarter-century of additional thought could pay off handsomely.

Like Gould's 1955 recording — and like almost everything about Gould's quixotic career — this version was controversial. While critics and purists claimed that the earlier Goldbergs were more Gould than Bach — a claim that could equally have been made by his supporters, since it had a glimmer of truth to it — these later Variations seem to come from somewhere else entirely. Bach, the story goes, wrote the Goldberg Variations for a man who had insomnia. Gould, who suffered from insomnia and hypochondria, seems to have channeled the essence of Night — the slow passage of time (almost painfully slow at times); the restless, uneasy stirrings… read more »