Editing Goldberg Variations (section)

=== Variatio 25. a 2 Clav.: Adagio ===
{{listen|type=music|help=no|filename=Goldberg Variations 26 Variatio 25 a 2 Clav.ogg|title=Variatio 25. a 2 Clav.|description=Performed by Kimiko Douglass-Ishizaka on piano}}
Variation 25 is the third and last variation in G minor; it is marked [[Andantino (music)|adagio]] in Bach's own copy<ref>{{cite web|last=Tomita |first=Yo |url=http://www.qub.ac.uk/~tomita/essay/cu4.html#PC |title=The "Goldberg" Variations, Essay by Yo Tomita (1997) |publisher=Qub.ac.uk |access-date=2012-08-11}}</ref> and is in {{time signature|3|4}} time. The melody is written out predominantly in sixteenth and thirty-second notes, with many [[chromaticism]]s. This variation generally lasts longer than any other piece of the set.

[[Wanda Landowska]] famously described this variation as "the black pearl" of the ''Goldberg Variations''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kanwischer |first1=Alfred |title=From Bach's Goldberg to Beethoven's Diabelli: Influence and Independence |date=15 May 2014 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4422-3064-4 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aWqYAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA41}}</ref> Williams writes that "the beauty and dark passion of this variation make it unquestionably the emotional high point of the work",{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=MKguGysZmA8C&pg=PA82 82]}} and Glenn Gould said that "the appearance of this wistful, weary [[Glossary of music terminology#C|cantilena]] is a master-stroke of psychology."<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=Bach: The Goldberg Variations |title-link=Bach: The Goldberg Variations (Glenn Gould album) |first=Glenn |last=Gould |author-link=Glenn Gould |date=1956 |type=liner notes |publisher=[[Columbia Records]]}}</ref> In an interview with Gould, [[Tim Page (music critic)|Tim Page]] described this variation as having an "extraordinary chromatic texture"; Gould agreed: "I don't think there's been a richer lode of [[enharmonic]] relationships any place between [[Carlo Gesualdo|Gesualdo]] and [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]."<ref name="Gould Page" />