A portrait of Bach, projected in December 2005 on a skyscraper in his longtime home city of Leipzig, Germany. Jens Schlueter/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
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Deceptive Cadence
From NPR ClassicalGoldberg Week
The Bach Industrial Average Pablo Helguera hide caption
A 1959 picture of Glenn Gould rehearsing at London's Royal Festival Hall. (Yes, he's seated on an abnormally short piano stool, hovering only a few inches above the floor.) Keystone/Getty Images hide caption
If Variations 1-5 are your brain, Variations 25-29 are your brain on drugs. iStockphoto.com hide caption
Variation 17 (excerpt, Glenn Gould, 1955)
Andreas Staier plays Bach's Goldberg Variations on a copy of this famously grand harpsichord built in 1734 by Hieronymus Albrecht Hass currently housed in Hamburg, Germany. Wikimedia Commons hide caption
Hear Andreas Staier And His Harpsichord
Glenn Gould's 1955 recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations instantly launched his international career. Don Hunstein/Sony Classical Archive hide caption
A Glenn Gould 'Goldbergs' Listening Party
Jeremy Denk performs in Studio 4A. Emily Bogle/NPR hide caption
Bach's 'Goldberg Variations': Infinite Worlds Out Of Eight (Borrowed) Notes
Bach's Goldberg Variations is something of an intricate puzzle in and of itself. iStockphoto.com hide caption
Lara Downes plays contemporary takes on Bach's iconic Goldberg Variations in NPR's studio 4A. Doriane Raiman/NPR hide caption
Lara Downes' New Viewpoints On Old Variations
In pianist Jeremy Denk's world, Silence of the Lambs serial killer Hannibal Lecter has a few Bachian traits. Kobal Collection/Orion hide caption
Goldberg Variations: Aria (Jeremy Denk in NPR's studio)
How do I love the Goldbergs? Let me count the many recordings ... iStockphoto.com hide caption
All this week, a look at Bach's Goldberg Variations from many points of view. Guido Bergmann/Getty Images hide caption
Bach Scholar Christoph Wolff Discusses The 'Goldberg Variations'
Jeremy Denk performs Bach's Goldberg Variations in his New York City apartment John Pavlus/for NPR hide caption