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Comment by yesenadam | Hacker News Reader

Someone modestly shares with you their musical tastes - To my not-very-well-trained ear - and you tell them what they say 'sounds so wrong'?! I don't think tastes can be 'wrong'. You sound like you think your tastes are reasonable and no-one else's are.

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Hmm, it did occur to me that that phrasing could sound harsh to someone, but I didn't mean to belittle his/her opinion. Sorry about that. I tend to talk quite bluntly (as a Finn).

Ok thanks, Hi from Australia. Then you didn't mind my bluntness. :-) So.. Do you have a favourite piece, or.. top 3? top 5?

Hello. That's an impossible task for me, so I've given up on trying to do that. I can however give you 3 of my latest favorites:

1) Bach - Passacaglia & Fugue In C Minor - BWV 582 by Karl Richter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W4PJUOeVYw

2) Vivaldi - Stabat Mater https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGwvKU4_vaw

3) Bach - Piano Concerto in D Min. BWV 1052 by Polina Osetinskaya https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osg_WmeLxQk

I find Osetinskaya plays so fast that it's difficult to make out the counterpoint. Have a look/listen at Glenn Gould's version, which makes the counterpoint really clear [1]. As you might know, this interpretation was controversial at the time.

[1] https://youtu.be/9ZX_XCYokQo?t=307

I know Gould (of course) and the piece, he's awesome. Still, I found Osetinskaya's play very precise, delightful, and full of emotion. I did not have any trouble with the speed. One day I prefer Gould, the other this one. It's just like that.

Funny side note: Do you know Gould's So You Want to Write a Fugue? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHW1I8T0caI

> One day I prefer Gould, the other this one. It's just like that.

Amen to that! I frequently rediscover interpretations upon hearing them anew, which makes me go back and listen to other versions of the same piece again. It's what I love about classical music.

I do indeed known Gould's very clever fugue.

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