J.S. Bach: The Goldberg Variations (1956)
by Glenn Gould
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Glenn Gould bestography
J.S. Bach: The Goldberg Variations (1956) is ranked as the best album by Glenn Gould.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to J.S. Bach: The Goldberg Variations (1956) on YouTube
J.S. Bach: The Goldberg Variations (1956) track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
J.S. Bach: The Goldberg Variations (1956) rankings
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 1 hour ago).
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J.S. Bach: The Goldberg Variations (1956) ratings
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av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
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Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 123 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 07/22/2026 09:58 |  Tamthebam | 23,129 | 69/100 |
| ! | 07/18/2026 00:00 | xhitmanx | 1,453 | 79/100 |
| ! | 03/10/2026 03:30 |  Helios | 6,208 | 69/100 |
| ! | 02/20/2026 11:54 | Leginlists | 3,744 | 83/100 |
| ! | 02/05/2026 15:35 | VeVt | 96 | 52/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 80.8/100, a mean average of 79.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 18.6.
J.S. Bach: The Goldberg Variations (1956) favourites
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J.S. Bach: The Goldberg Variations (1956) comments
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JoaoMoreira 02/15/2023 23:16 | #294062 | TOP COMMENT
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Prefer the latest version.
Guess he was just a virtuoso kid and lacked that depth and maturity to play it like he did in '81.
VictorVale 11/07/2020 22:20 | #260346
Grande pianista. Apesar da dificuldade técnica há sentimento!
Really good stuff. I found it hard to get into classical music because the pieces were too long. No such issue here.
RoundTheBend 01/29/2016 05:01 | #158038 | TOP COMMENT
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I agree with the GoodSir. Reminds me a bit of some of Mozart's music... I felt it ran through algorithms of a scale instead of something emotionally moving. Still quite impressive and beautiful.
I think if I saw someone perform this live, it would move me differently... I've noticed this with "classical" music recordings.
colonelchibbers 05/20/2015 04:57 | #141985 | TOP COMMENT
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I'm a pianist, and this is my favorite piano music of all time. Really tough to play stuff. Holding all of the counterpoint in your head is difficult stuff.
Obviously very technically impressive, though it doesn't do anything to particularly move me emotionally. I did enjoy it thoroughly despite that.
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