Search - Bach-Godowsky, Carlo Grante :: The Godowsky Edition, Vol. II

A Unique Listening Experience

Phillip J. Rodgers | West Central GA USA | 02/11/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Carlo Grante, one of the most talented pianists before the public today, tackles Leopold Godowsky's little known paraphrases of three of J.S. Bach's brilliant sonatas for solo violin. The music is, as always with Godowsky, complex and lush. In these pieces you are dealing with the insights of a first rate musical mind into music by, arguably, the greatest mind in musical history. Godowsky rethinks these pieces in terms of the modern piano. Purists will get their panties in a wad, but I believe that Bach (the great transcriber and arranger of his own, and others, works) would have been delighted. The pieces that Godowsky paraphrases (these go WAY beyond transcription) are the g minor and a minor sonatas and the b minor partita. Grante has a lush tone that is reminisent of Busoni. A rich organ-like sonority. If you enjoy the famous Bach/Busoni Chaconne, then you will love this."