Egarr Goldbergs

Bradley Lehman wrote (April 5, 2006):
My copy of Egarr's Goldbergs has finally arrived this week, and I've listened through it three times so far. Bravo on an excellent performance, along with the clear sound and (of course) the tuning. The performance comes across to me as a strongly musical venture, full of grace and brinkmanship, and a fresh hearing of the music with Egarr's freedom to react to it as if the whole thing is improvisation.

It is also obvious to me that Egarr recognizes music as play, something to enjoy and to feel one's way through, even if it is somewhat different every time. His ventures in the repeats here are marvelous in that regard. His spontaneity with detail is inspiring.

From the earlier discussion at: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVD/BWV988-Egarr.htm
I honestly fail to comprehend why some members disparage Egarr's rubato so roundly. As one who also plays this piece on harpsichord, all of his choices/fluctuations and his spontaneous-sounding reactions in the phrasing seem quite normal and tasteful, to me. This technique of slightly bending the rhythm, and slightly desynchronizing the attacks in several voices, is bread-and-butter technique for serious harpsichordists in our reactions to the music's flow. Egarr's rhythmic profile here is terrific: the ability to control and shape a fluid substance (musical phrases moving through time!), and not to let any of the delivery ever sound either mechanical or lackadaisical.

No, it doesn't sound like Pinnock or Gould or some of the other musicians who favor a much stricter approach to meter; so what? Not all listeners fancy the same things; so what?

Two newspaper reviews I've seen recently, where the reviewers clearly resonate with Egarr's musicianship here:
http://www.audaud.com/article.php?ArticleID=1284
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/columnists/richard_scheinin/14081010.htm

And those 14 canons at the end, some of them really rock! Again, there's that sense of Egarr's spontaneity, even though in some of those he is overdubbing two copies of himself (three players) to play all those intricate parts.

Richard Egarr: Short Biography | Recordings of Instrumental Works
Reviews of Instrumental Recordings: Review: Harpsichord Works by Richard Egarr | Egarr Goldbergs [B. Lehman] | Richard Egarr Performs Bach's Goldberg Variations [D. Satz] | Goldberg Variations Review: Egarr [P. Bright]
Discussions of Instrumental Recordings: Goldberg Variations BWV 988 - played by Richard Egarr