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). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 1 hour ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  ffudnebbuh | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 5/100 | 96 |
| 2026 | Steppenwolf666 | Top 86 Music Albums of 1956 | 42/86 | 3 |
| 2026 | downandout | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1950s | 39/100 | 12 |
| 2026 | arnellarsen | Top 48 Music Albums of 1956 | 3/48 | 5 |
| 2026 | pjerske | Top 27 Music Albums of the 1950s | 24/27 | 3 |
| 2026 |  Hayden | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 15/100 | 84 |
| 2026 |  grogg | Top 49 Music Albums of the 1950s | 7/49 | 18 |
| 2026 |  Repo | Top 28 Music Albums of 1956 | 16/28 | 2 |
| 2026 | Hayden | Top 50 Music Albums of 1956 | 2/50 | 5 |
| 2026 | MrOlan | Top 60 Music Albums of the 1950s | 30/60 | 10 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 111 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 918 | |||
J.S. Bach: The Goldberg Variations (1956) collection
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J.S. Bach: The Goldberg Variations (1956) ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 124 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/02/2026 16:38 | CrazyDiamond84 | 110 | 64/100 |
| ! | 07/22/2026 09:58 |  Tamthebam | 23,375 | 69/100 |
| ! | 07/18/2026 00:00 | xhitmanx | 1,604 | 75/100 |
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 80.9/100, a mean average of 79.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.7/100. 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) forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 5 days ago in Chart of the day (#5451): By ffudnebbuh
CharlieBarley 11/12/2021 11:40 in What album are you listening to right now?
Norman Bates 11/28/2015 11:58 in Qu'est-ce qu'on s'emmerde.J.S. Bach: The Goldberg Variations (1956) comments
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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. (Edited)
Obviously very technically impressive, though it doesn't do anything to particularly move me emotionally. I did enjoy it thoroughly despite that. (Edited)
Really good stuff. I found it hard to get into classical music because the pieces were too long. No such issue here. (Edited)
RoundTheBend TOP 100 COMMENTER 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.
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.
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