J.S. BACH: Goldberg Variations – Aapo Häkkinen, harpsichord – Alba multichannel SACD ABCD 283, 79:38 (Distr. by Albany) ***(*):
This may be the first harpsichord recording of the Goldbergs in decades to use Wanda Landowska’s 1933 article for "Revue musicale" as its liner notes. Maybe not such a bad idea at all, especially when you read her conclusion: "There is no other work which leaves such a vast field for interpreters to display their qualities of imagination, skill and virtuosity, while giving the most substantial nourishment to musicians."
Häkkinen, who leads the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, and has recorded for Naxos and other labels, shows an admirable if dogged elegance which is colored throughout by subtle rubato and a legato underpinning to the surface articulation, illuminated by one of those miraculous SACD recordings which actually gains at lower levels.
The recording was made St. Peter’s Church in the southern Finnish town of Siuntio. The harpsichord was made by Joel Katzmann in 2002 and has a lot of beauty in the lower middle and bass registers. [Although of course there are many piano versions of the Goldbergs – Glenn Gould’s probably the best-known – there are only a couple others on harpsichord on SACD. In comparison with the Delos SACD by Jory Vinikour, I found Häkkinen to be much more flowing and not hesitant as with Vinikour. Also the sonics are richer and deeper and his version fits on a single disc, whereas the Delos required two SACDs…Ed.]
– Laurence Vittes
