J. S. Bach Golberg Variations BWV 988, Gile Bae piano

Gile Bae, an internationally acclaimed classical pianist, begins her recording career with her first album on Fonè Records. Gifted from an early age, she has won numerous awards and performs on many international stages. She is a Bösendorfer Artist.

Bach’s Goldberg Variations, her first album, is an absolute masterpiece. The album was recorded in the Sala dell’ Ermellino – Casa della Musica in Milano, Italy in November 2019. For this prestigious recording, Fone’s Giulio Cesare Ricci used his legendary original Neumann U47 and U48 tube microphones. Recorded in Stereo DSD 64 with the Pyramix Recorder from Merging Technologies using the dCS A/D and D/A converters. This is a state-of-the-art recording system used without any sound manipulation, equalization, reverberation, compression, or expansion.  Simply natural sound with true timbre to best enhance the acoustics of the Sala dell ‘Ermellino. The album has been mastered Giulio Cesare Ricci using the Signoricci system.

The result of this recording is fantastic. With this recording, Giulio Cesare Ricci wanted to make the listener live a unique experience. It is as if the listener was sitting on an armchair positioned in the ideal point of the Sala dell ‘Ermellino. The sound has a field effect, and its depth, width, and height are very appreciable. Great dynamics but also great precision – It’s an album not to be missed.

Is the Bach we have heard Ferruccio Busoni play on his piano legitimate? What about Glenn Gould? Or Jörg Demus? And the music that carries us away when Angela Hewitt is at the keyboard? Let’s admit it, the age-old controversy, or better, the recent reparation of the “querelle des anciens et des modernes” which was stirred up three centuries ago by the duelers Gian Giuseppe Orsi and Dominique Bouhours, has wearied to death all those who still want to “bien penser” (in the words of the above-mentioned count and the Jesuit priest, as they mauled each other with ceremonial bows). Of course: let’s be fair, credit where credit is due. Sooner or later, every true musician must deal with a collective problem. The question is: “When playing ancient music, is it a noteworthy phenomenon to always and regardless use ancient instruments, i.e. instruments which are contemporaries of the music being performed and its composer (or, in the case of a total dearth of ancient instruments, modern ones constructed in a similar manner)?” It is a noble problem and every musician who is also a thinker must take it into consideration.

— Gile Bae, piano