J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations

I don't know how often it happens (perhaps not so much, actually) but two recordings of Goldberg Variations came out on the same day. This one, and one recorded by a rising star of the piano, Yunchan Lim (You can read my review of that one here.)

And as you can imagine, it's the rising star that got the most attention. Yet it is this album that is significantly better of the two.

I should be upfront: I hadn't heard about Smoczynski before discovering this album, and I wasn't familiar with Genuin, the record label behind it, either.

Both turned out to be very happy discoveries.

Smoczynski's Goldberg ticks all the boxes for me.

It's a great performance. Smoczynski is never rushing and never forcing the music on me.

It also sounds exceptionally well. Lines are easy to follow, transients are clearly audible, and the tone is neutral to warm, never causing any listening fatigue.

Some facts about this album and the artist

• Milosz Sroczynski is a Polish pianist, currently living in Switzerland. He is still young but clearly already well formed as a musician. His studies took him through Hanover, Geneva, Zurich, and London, where he completed an Artist Diploma at the Royal College of Music under Norma Fisher.
• In the booklet accompanying the release I read that he made his debut at the 2024 Davos Festival with Bach's Goldberg Variations, earning an immediate re-invitation.

How does the album sound?

If I were to answer this in a single word, I'd say, amazing.

The first thing that hits you is the clarity, but without all those elements that make it clinical.

Transients are fast but without any edge to them. You clearly hear the start of the notes, but they don't have that digital glare to them so present in records that emphasize clarity too much.

Still, there is enough body in the notes that you can follow lines, even in busy passages, and they never turn into a single block of piano tone.

The tone is neutral, with tight lows and no blur, and highs don't have the glassy bite either.

The soundstage is medium. You can hear the room but it's not overpowering the sound.

For solo piano, the stereo picture is unusually well-defined: width is moderate, placement is stable, and the separation between hands is strong enough that the counterpoint reads like two voices in dialogue, not one blended instrument.

Final Take

Of the two releases of Goldberg Variations from the same day, this one certainly won me over. I enjoy Sroczynski's very human and honest peformance, and I appreciate that the sound compliments it fully.

If you're looking for a new recording of the Variations to add to your collection, this is the one I recommend.