Johann Sebastian Bach: Kantate zum 3. Fastensonntag, BWV 54

Eine eigenartige Aufnahme, doch eine mit einer ganz eigenen Faszination, wie mach ehrlich zugeben muß! Der große, exzentrische Pianist Glenn Gould an einem recht einzigartig klingenden Continuo, nach einer Mischung aus Cembalo und Western-Pianino klingend, dirigierend und interpretierend, gemeinsam mit einem Counter-Tenor und einem kleinen Ensemble ... man muß nicht so weit gehen wie der Uploader dieses Videos, der meint:

The BWV 54 is downright weird. Gould's realization of the continuo is bizarre. I am not myself a keyboard player, but all of the activity seems to be in the right hand, with little realization of the figures in the left and a complicated and sinuous, almost melodic realization in the uppoer voices.
The instrument is even more bizarre, and I think it must be one of those doctored "harpsipianos" with which Gould was enamored at one point. The male alto is the unique and remarkable Russell Oberlin. Unfortunately, his German accent is appalling. The performance, however, is impassioned in the best sense of the word.
There's Oberlin's odd German, and the harpsipiano plonking along with its odd sound, and GG's continuo realization from outer space. There are the passages where GG pounds out melodic lines (both in the strings and in the vocal part!) which he thinks need extra emphasis. Then there are the passages where GG suddenly doubles or halves the tempo, presumably to set apart the composition's sections and to make large contrasts of mood. Then there are the passages where GG stops playing with his left hand, because he needs it to conduct the non-obvious interpretive things he's having everybody do, and because he's left-handed. Sometimes the string players seem not quite convinced or unanimous about what's going on in there. Another problem with Oberlin's delivery (in addition to his German diction) is the way he sings the text's weak syllables as loudly as (or louder than) the strong syllables...very unnatural. Overall the whole thing sounds like a bizarre experiment where GG's trying to see how far he can get things to go: just trying various things for the sake of finding out what happens. It's of course interesting. It sounds like Bach with a lot of playfully affected accents. It's hard to figure out what the point is, though.

Aber sicherlich kann man jenem Kommentarposter zustimmen, der zu dieser Aufnahme vom 8. April 1962 (die heute also fast genau 55 Jahre alt ist) meint:

Auch wenn heute niemand mehr Bach so spielen würde, bleibt es eine wunderschöne und berührende Interpretation.

Große sind groß auch auf Ab- und Irrwegen ... so wenig das den stets korrekt wandelnden kleineren Geistern behagen mag.

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P.S.: wer eine "normalere" Interpretation bevorzugt - hier werden Sie geholfen.