Godowsky: Passacaglia in B Minor (Siirala)

When I first encountered this performance I couldn't quite believe what I was hearing. It was more colossal, clear, and dramatic than I thought possible for a masterpiece of such relentless contrapuntal ferocity and harmonic subtlety. (For what it's worth, this also blows Hamelin clean out of the water, undoubtedly fine as his recording is.) Horowitz famously remarked that Godowsky's Passagalia on the opening theme of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony needed six hands to play, but Siirala's playing does not merely conquer the technical difficulties; it transcends them, giving the 44 variations and sprawling concluding fugue (which features some gorgeously inventive counterpoint) incredible shape and structure. Every single line is clearly delineated, even in the densest textures [7:56, 17:30]. There are moments of tenderness [6:44], desolation [3:55], reverential canonic movement [8:30, and all through the fugue], playfulness [1:53]; pathos [10:35], unbearable pain [12:51], and titanic soundscapes [11:50, 18:47; note how the theme continues to ring out in the bass].The sheer variety and sweep of expression which Godowsky traverses in just under 20 minutes is quite mindboggling. Passacaglia -- 00:00 Epilogue and cadenza -- 13:38 Fugue -- 15:21