J.S. Bach: "Goldberg" Variations, 1995 Live Recording (VAI Audio VAIA 1142, 2 CDs); The Well-Tempered Clavier (DG 463305, 4 CDs). Rosalyn Tureck, piano.

ROSALYN TURECK, known as the "High Priestess of Bach," died this past summer at the age of 88—on July 17, the very day she had planned to present a New York recital. Tureck was one of the 20th century's greatest and most influential players of Bach's keyboard works, devoting a lifetime of study to the analysis and performance of these Baroque masterpieces.

By age 16, Tureck had memorized one-third of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, before it was mainstream repertoire. At her Juilliard audition, when the jury asked to hear a Bach Prelude and Fugue, she replied, "Which one?" Tureck studied piano with Olga Samaroff at Juilliard (1931-35), later teaching at the School for 10 years (1945-55), and subsequently returning to present master classes (1972-91).

A series of 12 Tureck CDs, three video cassettes, and a newly released DVD have been issued on the VAI Audio label, in association with the Tureck Bach Research Institute. They provide, along with additional recordings on DG, Philips, and BBC Legends, an invaluable documentation of Tureck's legacy and artistry.

For a good overview, watch the video, High Priestess of Bach (VAI 69225), and the new DVD, The Art of Rosalyn Tureck (VAI 4238). In addition, five volumes of historic CDs in VAI's Tureck Collection give evidence of her versatility, ranging from Mozart's Concerto No. 24 and a startlingly Baroque-sounding Brahms "Handel" Variations, through music by Liszt and Debussy, to works by William Schuman, Diamond, and Dallapiccola. However, it is as an interpreter of Bach that Tureck is most renowned.

"Bach," proclaimed Paderewski, "could weave counterpoint as a spider spins its web: up to the sky and back again." This is particularly true of Bach's "Goldberg" Variations. Supposedly commissioned as a cure for a count's insomnia, it is sometimes played in a somnolent manner, as if the performer was intent on proving its efficacy for its intended purpose. Not so with Tureck. Three of her "Goldberg" recordings are currently available. Best is the version recorded live in concert in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1995. This performance, which observes all of Bach's repeats, convincingly demonstrates her beauty of sound and profound understanding of this music (VAIA 1142, 2 CDs; a video is available on VAI 69220).

It is, however, Tureck's 1953 recording of The Well-Tempered Clavier, now reissued on CD after having been unavailable for a half-century, that provides the greatest evidence of her genius (DG 463305, 4 CDs). Listen to—and marvel at—her subtle rhythmic inflections, uncanny articulation, and consummate coordination of contrapuntal lines. (Tureck's 1975-76 rerecording for the BBC offers modern stereo sound but is not as inspired as the earlier cycle.)

Since Edwin Fischer's pioneering recording in the 1930s, there have been many distinguished W.T.C. sets on disc; among them Kirkpatrick, Martins, Richter, and Schiff. But it is fascinating to compare Tureck's version with those of her principal rivals, Wanda Landowska and Glenn Gould. Landowska plays compellingly if romantically on a massive-sounding, souped-up Pleyel cembalo that can double the bass line at the lower octave: sort of a harpsichord on steroids. Gould's iconoclastic, modernist approach ignores established traditions and tempos, exhibiting almost superhuman independence of fingers and clarity of inner voices, frequently embellished by distracting vocal obbligatos. But it is Tureck who, while maintaining Classical restraint, seems to truly penetrate to the expressive and poetic core of these works.

It is hard to realize the degree of controversy that used to reign over Bach interpretation when dogmatic debate among acolytes of opposing factions reached an almost theological intensity. Landowska herself ended an argument with Pablo Casals in 1940 with the retort, "Very well, my dear: you play Bach your way, and I'll play him his way." Landowska's egocentricism notwithstanding, Tureck's playing of Bach comes as close to "his" way as we could hope to hear; the luster of Tureck's legacy and the brilliant perfection and insight of her pianism serve as proof that "all that glitters is not 'Gould'."

Mention this column at the Juilliard Bookstore to receive a 5-percent discount on this month's featured recording. (In-store purchases only.)

Michael Sherwin, marketing manager of the Juilliard Bookstore (bookstore.juilliard.edu), has written for High Fidelity and Musical America.