Recording
Goldberg Variations
Johann Sebastian Bach
- Released
- 1741
- On one list
- Baroque
- Updated
- 2026-08-30
Ranked No. 1 in Baroque
Thirty variations over a bass line, returning at the end to the aria unchanged. Glenn Gould recorded it twice, at opposite tempos, twenty-six years apart, and both are right.
Analysis
12 sections, the first drop of 26 at 1:57, 5% of the way in.
- Tempo
- 107.7 BPM
- holds throughout
- Dynamic range
- 14.8 dB
- wide open — the quiet parts are genuinely quiet
- Length
- 39:20
- measured from the YouTube master
The record, end to end
Click the track to jump · ← → move between sections
- 0:00Aintro0
- 1:58Bsteadybar 52
- 5:23Abreakdownbar 145
- 7:09Bliftbar 192
- 11:08Abreakdownbar 299
- 13:23Bpeakbar 360
- 14:19Abreakdownbar 385
- 16:42Bsteadybar 449
- 20:25Bpeakbar 549
- 25:32Abreakdownbar 687
- 32:09Bpeakbar 866
- 36:53Aoutrobar 993
Drops at 1:57 (bar 52), 3:08 (bar 84), 4:18 (bar 116), 7:08 (bar 192), 7:43 (bar 208), 9:02 (bar 243), 10:12 (bar 274), 10:50 (bar 291), 13:56 (bar 375), 16:41 (bar 449), 17:03 (bar 459), 17:49 (bar 479), 18:09 (bar 488), 20:24 (bar 549), 23:01 (bar 620), 23:31 (bar 633), 24:02 (bar 647), 24:47 (bar 667), 25:19 (bar 681), 32:20 (bar 870), 32:52 (bar 885), 33:33 (bar 903), 34:04 (bar 917), 35:04 (bar 944), 35:25 (bar 954), 36:48 (bar 991). A drop is a moment, not a stretch — marked on the track above rather than shaded across it.
0:00 · A · intro
opens the record below its own average energy · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 1:58
- Energy
- 17
- Brightness
- 14
- Density
- 34
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 3:25
- Energy
- 79
- Brightness
- 45
- Density
- 84
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 1:46
- Energy
- 24
- Brightness
- 2
- Density
- 41
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
a short rise that does not resolve — a fill or a transition, not a build · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 3:59
- Energy
- 73
- Brightness
- 38
- Density
- 82
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 2:15
- Energy
- 21
- Brightness
- 7
- Density
- 38
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:57
- Energy
- 91
- Brightness
- 58
- Density
- 100
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 2:22
- Energy
- 13
- Brightness
- 0
- Density
- 22
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 3:43
- Energy
- 58
- Brightness
- 40
- Density
- 77
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 5:07
- Energy
- 90
- Brightness
- 46
- Density
- 74
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 6:37
- Energy
- 0
- Brightness
- 2
- Density
- 0
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 4:43
- Energy
- 100
- Brightness
- 54
- Density
- 80
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
the closing fall · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 2:27
- Energy
- 10
- Brightness
- 100
- Density
- 12
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
Brightness and density are scored against this record's own sections, not against music in general — they say how its parts differ from each other, and nothing about how it compares to anything else.
- drums
- the drum kit, separated from the mix
- bass
- the bass part, separated from the mix
- vocals
- the voice, separated from the mix
- other
- everything else — synths, guitars, keys, strings
Separated into parts by a source-separation model, so each lane is the instrument it names.
- intro
- opens the record below its own average energy
- steady
- holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling
- breakdown
- energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning
- lift
- a short rise that does not resolve — a fill or a transition, not a build
- peak
- sits at the top of this record's range
- outro
- the closing fall
Measured from the YouTube master on . Section labels describe how the energy of the recording moves, not its musical form — a machine can see loudness climb and jump, it cannot hear a chorus arrive. Anything we were not confident enough to state is left out rather than shown with a caveat.