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Media Type: CD
Artist: BACH,J.S.
Title: ART OF FUGUE
Street Release Date: 08/12/2003
Domestic
Genre: CLASSICAL COMPOSERS | | | Product Details: | | | Audio CD Release Date:
| August 12, 2003 | | Studio:
| UMVD Labels | | Number Of Discs:
| 1 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 32 reviews |
| | | Track Listing: | | | 1. | Contrapunctus I | | 2. | Contrapunctus II | | 3. | Contrapunctus III | | 4. | Contrapunctus IV | | 5. | Contrapunctus V | | 6. | Contrapunctus VI, A 4, In Stylo Francese | | 7. | Contrapunctus VII, A 4, Per Augmentationem Et Diminutionem | | 8. | Contrapunctus VIII, A 3 | | 9. | Contrapunctus IX, A 4, Alla Duodecima | | 10. | Contrapunctus X, A 4, Alla Decima | | 11. | Contrapunctus XI, A 4 | | 12. | Conon Per Augmentationem In Contrario Motu (14a*) | | 13. | Contrapunctus XII, A 4, Rectus | | 14. | Contrapunctus XII, A 4, Inversus | | 15. | Canon Alla Ottava (15) | | 16. | Canon Alla Decima In Contrapuncto | | 17. | Canon Alla Duodecima In Contrapuncto Alla Quinta | | 18. | Contrapunctus XIII, A 3, Rectus | | 19. | Contrapunctus XIII, A 3, Inversus | | 20. | Canon Per Augmentationem In Contrario Motu (14) | | 21. | Contrapunctus XIV (18) | | 22. | Chorale: 'Vor Deinen Thron Tret Ich Hiermit' BWV 668a (19) | |
| | | Customer Reviews: | |
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 Dancing StringsAug 30, 2010
I bought this CD so I could choreograph to it. My mind is full of wonderful images! Love the artistry of this work. Can't wait to see my dancers onstage, with movement set to the beauty of Bach and the Emerson String Quartet!
A full and colorfull recordingAug 29, 2010
The strings are deep and full. The sound is clear and the works themseleves are greatly executed. A disc worth having.
It was one of the four recordings of Bach included in the DG Red Box of the 111 years, and deserves the place there as one of the best recordings of deutsche Gramophon of these works. A valuable adition to any collection.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Lovely SimplicityFeb 08, 2010
I heard this on some radio's BACHFEST program, and what caught me is the acoustic clarity and simplicity -- you'd think the Emerson String Quartet was sitting in the next room. I usually listen to music of this type while working, but with this one I keep putting work down to sit and take it all in, the music is so crisp and involving. With 22 tracks, there's also plenty to enjoy.
One more essential "Art of Fugue"Jan 30, 2010
The problem is, of course, what ensemble and the answer is, of course, that there isn't one answer, indeed, Bach may not have answered or raised this question himself. The homogeneity of a keyboard instrument, espcially, a harpsichord, will appeal to purists. I have several myself. Others will prefer the deconstructive and coloristic possibilities of a small string and wind ensemble. A string quartet (though Bach may never have heard one) offers a valid compromise, the narrower but still varied palette of bowed instruments. My only reservation is that the Emersons do not play this work with the restraint period performance practice might have imposed. Sometimes they indulge in a level of Angst und Sehnsucht more appropriate to Beethoven than Bach. Nonetheless, a valuable addition to any collector of the seemingly infinite angles from which this monument can be glimpsed. Is there a version for full orchestra perhaps conducted by Pierre Boulez?
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Not an Unpleasant Sound from the Emerson Fiddlers...May 08, 2009
... and certainly more musical than any straight-through performance on piano, or harpsichord for that matter. There's no reason at all to treat the 22 items of Die Kunst der Fuge as a straight-through concert composition; Bach would surely have been flabbergasted at such an event. Rather, he seems to have intended this, his last work, as a testament of his musical thought and theory. In any performance, with any instrumentation, this is a cerebral sort of music. The pleasure of listening comes from listening closely and following the development. Not that it isn't beautiful! It is, but the beauty shimmers on the surface of the structural craftsmanship.
I respect the Emerson Quartet enormously. Their forthcoming (May 19th) CD of the two quartets by Leos Janacek, which I've heard in advance, should be a blockbuster. Their Haydn recordings are among my favorites. And there's nothing shabby about this interpretation of Bach, though it seems at times a little too opaque and dense. It's not close to my favorite recording of The Art of Fugue, however, and not because of historical purism. I very much prefer the performance by the Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet on recorders of various sizes, chiefly at eight-foot pitch. Even with the limited dynamics of a recorder quartet, the ALSQ players seem to 'hear' deeper and clarify more. My favorite version of all is that of Musical Antiqua Köln, with Reinhard Goebel on violin, recorded in 1984, but available on Archive 'Masters' now. MAK mixes instruments, performing some of the contrapuncti on harpsichord, some on two harpsichords, some as a quartet of strings, some with strings and keyboard. The variety of instrumentation certainly makes the full seventy-six minutes performance more enjoyable, but the intense fugal independence of the voices, especially of the violas, in the MAK performance makes the music more vivid to my ears.
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