Perhaps it's unfair to discuss an emerging pianist's Goldberg Variations like Daniel Propper's in the face of Glenn Gould's long-established reference versions. Yet how can one not, considering how much Propper takes up the Gouldian gauntlet? As with Gould's 1981 digital remake, Propper eschews all repeats save for the canonic variations, the fughetta (Var 10) and certain fugue-like variations.

The dry-point, détaché articulation Gould popularised dominates many variations, albeit without the master's characterful humour and sense of swing. For example, Propper seems more interested in Var 4's downbeats than the implicit rhythmic syncopations, while Var 3's gentle lilt and Var 16's infectious swagger yield charmless, Prussian heel-clicking. Propper also gets bogged down in challenging cross-handed variations like the fifth, 14th and 20th by setting rapid tempi that gradually slow down. The same thing happens in the canon at the octave, where Propper lays too heavily on the trills and the lean texture unwittingly acquires middle-age spread. Similarly, the “black pearl” Var 25's slow pace grows increasingly heavy and laboured as the music progresses.

Yet other movements come off with assured mastery, like the bouncy, propulsive canon at the fourth, and Var 11's well delineated, conversational polyphony. Chalk this release up to an excellently engineered work-in-progress from a pianist who clearly has the potential to deliver an artistically ripe, thoroughly competitive Goldbergs on disc.