Bach - The Goldberg Variations: Aria + Var. 1

[optimist125]

[j_tour]

Well, I admire your gumption, and I think your username is apt.

Of course you know this already, but the notes aren't there yet.  That should be fixed.  The occassional missed note isn't, to me, normally, a big deal, but IMHO in this context it's huge, since these are extremely familiar, and the clarity can't be avoided.

I like that you're doing something different with the repeats — that's good. 

Just to isolate the first variation:  can you sing each voice, whether in aloud or in your inner ear?

That's not a sly reference to Gould — it seems clear you've studied a number of different interpretations, and I'm sure you're familiar with Gould, Hewitt, and everyone. 

I'd rather hear this small set of the Aria+Var1 in one unified concept, as though.  Just as though one person were singing it.

Oh, and especially the Aria, and especially the B section of the Aria.  Are your hands small, or is it a choice you made to not connect the downward voices in the bass?

Final point about the Aria as a whole:  half the time it seems like you're using a click-track, which can be good, given some of the excesses one might be tempted to take.  But when you employ rubato, it seems it's either "on" or "off," not organic (vide Aristotle). 

So, I think a rapper might say, "Not bad, but work up your flow, son!"

In short, you have the chops, maybe (that's not clear to me), but needs work on the concept.