A Bach Moment....

Hearing performances on the car radio can be a challenge to your schedule. I mean, have you ever parked at your destination waiting for the end of the composition to see if you have guessed right, are way off the mark, or just plain out of it. Today I heard some riveting Bach...one of the Concerti with orchestra...this one featuring the piano instead of the harpsichord. My first thought was about the rhythm. It was absolutely as tight as a tick and very accented, so there was no missing the beat. The articulation of the keyboard player was crisp,fastidious to a fault, and completely original. At first I was startled. Who would have the nerve today to play like this? It was almost too original, to studied to take in all at once. Then, on second thought, who would be playing this today on the modern grand, other than Peter Serkin or perhaps Andras Schiff . What caught my ear was the tension in the playing. It sounded almost contemporary in the way dissonance was made to stand out. The variety of touch featured a rather clipped sound, and a certain stacatissimo way of playing. It was all of a piece, love it or leave it. The sound was so good I thought, now what new recording is this? It turned out to be Glenn Gould in an LP recorded in 1960 with Vladimir Golschmann and the Columbia Symphony. WELL GLENN...you sound just as fresh as a daisy as you did 48 years ago. . and just as startling.