# What's your favorite instrumentation for Bach's "The Art of Fugue"?



## aleazk

As all we know, Bach wrote those fugues without specify the instrumentation. This has lead to various kinds of interpretations, with different instrumentations.

_Contrapunctus 1:_

-the classical interpretation of Glenn Gould on the *piano*:






-another classical interpretation performed by the ensemble "Musica Antiqua Köln" (they use ancient instruments):






(I think it's a *string quartet* in this case)

-*harpsichord*:






-*organ*:






-*full orchestra*:


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## aleazk

I loved the full orchestra version:


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## kv466

Not the biggest fan of the organ, I like the Emerson String Quartet's.


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## Webernite

Piano. Doesn't have to be Glenn Gould's recording, though.


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## norman bates

maybe it's a bit strange but i really like this interpretation for a recorder quartet


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## mensch

I'm not a fan of the harpischord, so I prefer solo performances of "Die Kunst der Fuge" on the piano. I recently acquired the recording by Pierre-Laurent Aimard which is very enjoyable.






The instrumentation of the "Concerto Italiano" version conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini is also very nice. It achieves a very warm sound with a bare minimum of instruments.






I think the rendition by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields conducted by Neville Marriner is less successful. It has some nice organ passages, but the sound of the violin in the first Contrapunctus irritates me, for some reason. I might have to listen to it a bit more to really appreciate it.


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## ksargent

+1 on the Emerson SQ version.



kv466 said:


> Not the biggest fan of the organ, I like the Emerson String Quartet's.


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## EarthBoundRules

Brass ensemble! 






I also like harpsichord versions because it makes it easier for me to hear all of the voices without some drowning each other out. I've been enjoying the interpretation by Ton Koopman and Tini Mathot who play the piece together on two harpsichords.


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## GoneBaroque

Since I am a recorder fan I have and enjoy the recording Norman Bates posted by the Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet, but I must agree with the late Gustav Leonhardt that it sounds better on the harpsichord, as do The well Tempered Klavier and the Goldberg Variations. My second choice would be a string quartet version. Having said that I question if Bach intended the Art of fugue to be played as a continuous piece rather than as a series of exercises. There another can of worms opened..


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## Jeremy Marchant

aleazk said:


> I loved the full orchestra version


I hadn't heard that Barshai version - very interesting.
My comment is that it is unnecessarily heavy, that the flutes in Contrapunctus 9 seem out of place in a string band, and that the arrangement is unidiomatic without being so anachronistic as to be interesting. I liked the verve, though.

Did Schoenberg make an arrangement?

I'd like to hear _The art of fugue_ transcribed for wind band, so that the different timbres of the instruments could (even) more easily separate out the parts.

For me, keyboard and string quartet versions are just too ascetic.


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## Ukko

I don't like the Art of the Fugue as entertainment, and it does nothing for me emotionally. For my purposes it is useless.


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## Philip

Organ all the way.


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## aleazk

Jeremy Marchant said:


> I hadn't heard that Barshai version - very interesting.
> My comment is that it is unnecessarily heavy, that the flutes in Contrapunctus 9 seem out of place in a string band, and that the arrangement is unidiomatic without being so anachronistic as to be interesting. I liked the verve, though.
> 
> Did Schoenberg make an arrangement?
> 
> I'd like to hear _The art of fugue_ transcribed for wind band, so that the different timbres of the instruments could (even) more easily separate out the parts.
> 
> For me, keyboard and string quartet versions are just too ascetic.


yes, it sounds like some kind of flute concerto :lol:, anyway, it was fun to listen.


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## aleazk

EarthBoundRules said:


> Brass ensemble!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I also like harpsichord versions because it makes it easier for me to hear all of the voices without some drowning each other out. I've been enjoying the interpretation by Ton Koopman and Tini Mathot who play the piece together on two harpsichords.


I liked that, very solemn.


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## aleazk

Hilltroll72 said:


> I don't like the Art of the Fugue as entertainment, and it does nothing for me emotionally. For my purposes it is useless.


...........


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## aleazk

mensch said:


> I'm not a fan of the harpischord, so I prefer solo performances of "Die Kunst der Fuge" on the piano. I recently acquired the recording by Pierre-Laurent Aimard which is very enjoyable.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The instrumentation of the "Concerto Italiano" version conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini is also very nice. It achieves a very warm sound with a bare minimum of instruments.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think the rendition by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields conducted by Neville Marriner is less successful. It has some nice organ passages, but the sound of the violin in the first Contrapunctus irritates me, for some reason. I might have to listen to it a bit more to really appreciate it.


oh, yes, Aimard is pretty good, I have heard his recording and I like it.
Have you heard this recording of the Italian concerto?:


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## Amfibius

Big fan of "Art of Fugue" here. I believe the best way for a fugue to show its true colours is to have very different tones carrying each voice. For this reason - I prefer the organ.


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## Dodecaplex

Piano. Played by none other than the legendary master, Glenn Gould.


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## Amfibius

Correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't Glenn Gould's version of the Art of Fugue played on an organ and not a piano?


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## Philip

Amfibius said:


> Correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't Glenn Gould's version of the Art of Fugue played on an organ and not a piano?


Both, in parts only.


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## HarpsichordConcerto

The best version of this work I have heard so far was performed under Jordi Savall. Played by several (period) instruments together for the sake of bringing the voices out and to add instrumental colour. The contrapunctal density of this work appeared easier to "digest" on the ear.


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## Taneyev

The Juilliard string quartet.


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## Praeludium

I agree about the Savall's version : it sounds very clear and I love the tone of the instruments used


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## Guest

Try the New Century Saxophone Quartet's interpretation. I love it. After this version, I really do enjoy Fretwork's interpretation.


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## aleazk

Dodecaplex said:


> Piano. Played by none other than the legendary master, Glenn Gould.


My favorite of him, out of this world...:


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## PetrB

I tend to think / feel they should remain on paper, as not designated for instruments, just where and as the man left them.


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## tgtr0660

^Harpsichord. Bach is my favorite composer. Having said that, I could agree with PetrB's previous post in that The Art of the Fugue may be the Bach work that might be better to _learn or study_ than to listen to. As actually enjoyable music, it's not Bach's summit. As a theoretical work, it probably is. But Bach has plenty of works of amazing musical complexity that at the same times are wonderful, sublime to be heard (quick example: Mass in B minor).


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## Philip

Music not meant to be heard? :lol:


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## aleazk

I enjoy those fugues a lot , I don't understand why they should be not "enjoyable". Ok, they are theoretical... so what?


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## elgar's ghost

I do enjoy it when performed by multiple players but I prefer it for organ or harpsichord. As it's essentially an academic work I perhaps perversely think that the drier and sparser the instrumentation the better. I like piano as an alternative to harpsichord on a lot of Bach's keyboards works but not for this.


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## Krummhorn

Helmut Walcha on Organ. 

DGG vinyl version is in my collection.


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## Philip

Contrapunctus 6 alone has a section that justifies the organ as the single greatest achievement of the human mind.


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## Guest

Krummhorn said:


> Helmut Walcha on Organ.
> 
> DGG vinyl version is in my collection.


Walcha is my preferred performer of Bach's organ works - I have a two-disc compilation of his performances, and it is wonderful.


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## Dodecaplex

aleazk said:


> I enjoy those fugues a lot , I don't understand why they should be not "enjoyable". Ok, they are theoretical... so what?


Indeed! In fact, this whole idea that AoF is theoretical is nothing but a meaningless theory itself, and it's not supported by one shred of evidence. Simply a bunch of dogmatic folks who don't like it and who think that their dislike of the work is God's judgment.


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## PetrB

Philip said:


> Music not meant to be heard? :lol:


Yep, textbook illustrations of type a, b, c, etc. and what kinds of paces each object might yield as per device.

About as interesting as listening to a tool kit of graded socket wrenches. - worth looking into as 'learn your tools?' sure.

They were never written 'to sound' as any sort of entertainment of pastime -- they are textbook demo examples.


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## Bulldog

I think The Art of Fugue is one of Bach's greatest creations. What I find most compelling is how much variety of expression Bach offers within relatively rigid parameters. Concerning those folks who find the work too academic and/or austere, they sure aren't hearing what I'm hearing.

On to the topic of instrumentation and recordings. My basic preference is the harpsichord, and Kenneth Gilbert on Archiv is my main man; other outstanding versions come from Leonhardt, Moroney, Hill and Brookshire. On piano, I'm smitten with Gould, Koroliov and Nikolayeva. My favored organ recording is Weinberger's on CPO. On multiple instruments, you can't go wrong with Alessandrini or Savall. Lastly, I have a very warm affection for Walter Riemer's fortepiano recording, the most upbeat interpretation I've ever heard.


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## ArtMusic

Instrumentation listed below.


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## Guest

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> The best version of this work I have heard so far was performed under Jordi Savall. Played by several (period) instruments together for the sake of bringing the voices out and to add instrumental colour. The contrapunctal density of this work appeared easier to "digest" on the ear.


I have three version: 1. Harpschord 2. All Strings 3. All Brass
None of these have kept my attention so I assumed the work was not mine to enjoy. However, based on the above quote alone, I am willing to give it one more chance. I will seek out this recording and try again.


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## Guest

Jerome said:


> I have three version: 1. Harpschord 2. All Strings 3. All Brass
> None of these have kept my attention so I assumed the work was not mine to enjoy. However, based on the above quote alone, I am willing to give it one more chance. I will seek out this recording and try again.


The Jodi Savall recording is a wonderful one, and I highly recommend it. You may also want to try an all woodwind recording. The New Saxophone Quartet (I think that is their name) has an all saxophone performance on Channel Classics which I very much enjoy. You may want to give it a shot.


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## Stargazer

Where's the harp love?


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## GGluek

steam calliope . . .


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## aberooski

It would be great for steelband


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## guy

Definitely piano (solo or two pianos). My favorite is probably Contrapunctus XIII (inversus), it has an awesome heroic theme in it, and it is simply amazing, I would use it to describe Bach's music.


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## StlukesguildOhio

I have a slew of recordings in different instrumentation... I will add to the growing number in support of Jordi Savall's performance as my personal favorite.


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## KenOC

I've been a fan of wind versions -- especially the old Canadian Brass performance. Variety on the ears and ease of following the separate lines. Lately I've been listening to the Calefax Reed Quintet recording, which is also very good.


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## Livly_Station

String quartet and brass, I think.

Piano is nice in some of the contrapunctus too.


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## hpowders

Ukko said:


> I don't like the Art of the Fugue as entertainment, and it does nothing for me emotionally. For my purposes it is useless.


I agree. If that was the only piece of music in my collection, then I would rather suffer complete silence.


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## PlanetThoughts

Bulldog said:


> I think The Art of Fugue is one of Bach's greatest creations. What I find most compelling is how much variety of expression Bach offers within relatively rigid parameters. Concerning those folks who find the work too academic and/or austere, they sure aren't hearing what I'm hearing.
> 
> On to the topic of instrumentation and recordings. My basic preference is the harpsichord, and Kenneth Gilbert on Archiv is my main man; other outstanding versions come from Leonhardt, Moroney, Hill and Brookshire. On piano, I'm smitten with Gould, Koroliov and Nikolayeva. My favored organ recording is Weinberger's on CPO. On multiple instruments, you can't go wrong with Alessandrini or Savall. Lastly, I have a very warm affection for Walter Riemer's fortepiano recording, the most upbeat interpretation I've ever heard.


I agree that it is terrific to listen to, but it may require an experienced ear to be able to appreciate the beauty that goes into the various variations and their structures. As for the intensity of emotion or experience, I have heard some dry recordings of this piece that left me relatively cold. My favorite is a fully orchestrated version I had on LP 40 years ago. Somehow, the LP has disappeared from my collection and I can not recall who recorded it. One thing that probably makes or made that recording distinguishable was the use of three sections of the orchestra for the final fugue: string, woodwind, and brass. It was so moving in that format! If anyone knows who recorded that, please let me know. Stuttgart rings a bell, but I heard one recording on YouTube with Stuttgart orchestra, and that was not the one I remember.


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## PlanetThoughts

Can anyone point me to a fully orchestrated version that I had many years ago on LP? It is not with Savall or Stiedry. I would recognize the LP box cover if I saw it again. One distinguishing feature: for the final fugue, the three different themes were represented by strings, woodwinds, and brass. I have not heard any other version that has done it. That recording, whose sounds I remember well and with feeling, is still the favorite recording I have heard, although I am sure many others are excellent.


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## DavidA

Piano. Just wish Glenn Gould had recorded it complete.


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## premont

PlanetThoughts said:


> Can anyone point me to a fully orchestrated version that I had many years ago on LP? It is not with Savall or Stiedry. I would recognize the LP box cover if I saw it again. One distinguishing feature: for the final fugue, the three different themes were represented by strings, woodwinds, and brass. I have not heard any other version that has done it. That recording, whose sounds I remember well and with feeling, is still the favorite recording I have heard, although I am sure many others are excellent.


This one from about 1965 ??

http://www.discogs.com/Johann-Sebas...-Kunst-Der-Fuge-BWV-1080-The-/release/5921782

It was also released on CD by Accord.


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## premont

To answer the question of the thread:

Art of Fugue is evidently meant for keyboard manualiter. 

In my opinion the organ is the instrument, which meets the demands of the work (not the least equality of the parts) in the best way.


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## Mandryka

PetrB said:


> Yep, textbook illustrations of type a, b, c, etc. and what kinds of paces each object might yield as per device.
> 
> About as interesting as listening to a tool kit of graded socket wrenches. - worth looking into as 'learn your tools?' sure.
> 
> They were never written 'to sound' as any sort of entertainment of pastime -- they are textbook demo examples.


Not quite. The articulation and ornamentation marks in the autographs and first engraving show that Bach had practical performance in mind. Furthermore, there is an autograph of the unfinished fugue in two-stave keyboard notation, and there's an autograph of an arrangement of the three part mirror fugue for two claviers. Analysis of how he constructed and revised the other cpti reveal that he was writing for keyboards, only once is there unnatural stretches for keyboard players (the canon at the 10th.) CPE Bach remarked that "everything . . . has been arranged for use at the harpsichord or organ."

But it is true that the first engraving is in open score, and according to the preface to the Richard Jones edition, scholars think that Bach was involved in its preparation. Most of the information in this post is just lifted from that preface.

The earliest manuscript in keyboard notation is by Bach's pupil Johann Friedrich Agricola.


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## Mandryka

Does anyone know of any other examples of early music which was first printed in open score?


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## hpowders

For this work, the organ.


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## premont

Mandryka said:


> Does anyone know of any other examples of early music which was first printed in open score?


Complex polyphonic keyboard music was in the baroque age often published in open score.
Fx Frescobaldi's Fiori Musicali.
On this page you can dowload the original edition and have a look.

http://imslp.org/wiki/Fiori_Musicali,_Op.12_(Frescobaldi,_Girolamo)

Or Scheidt Tabulatura Nova:

http://imslp.org/wiki/Tabulatura_Nova,_SSWV_102-158_(Scheidt,_Samuel)


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## Mandryka

Bulldog said:


> My favored organ recording is Weinberger's on CPO.


At around cpt ix it takes off and enters the super league of organ AoFs, and maintains it for about half a dozen cpti, maybe more. Did you review it anywhere?


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## ArtMusic

There is an excellent arrangement/version on period instrument strings,


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## Mandryka

premont said:


> Complex polyphonic keyboard music was in the baroque age often published in open score.
> Fx Frescobaldi's Fiori Musicali.
> On this page you can dowload the original edition and have a look.
> 
> http://imslp.org/wiki/Fiori_Musicali,_Op.12_(Frescobaldi,_Girolamo)
> 
> Or Scheidt Tabulatura Nova:
> 
> http://imslp.org/wiki/Tabulatura_Nova,_SSWV_102-158_(Scheidt,_Samuel)


So the idea that it was not intended for performance is unsupported.


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## premont

Mandryka said:


> So the idea that it was not intended for performance is unsupported.


The fact that it is written in open score neither supports that it was not intended for performance, nor that it was particularly intended for chamber ensemble.


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## Bulldog

Mandryka said:


> At around cpt ix it takes off and enters the super league of organ AoFs, and maintains it for about half a dozen cpti, maybe more. Did you review it anywhere?


By the time I got around to listening to Weinberger's version, I had already stopped reviewing on-line.


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## Gaspard de la Nuit

Brass fits Bach's style in Art of Fugue the best, IMO. I used to have a recording of a brass quintet playing it, which was awesome. I'm listening to the orchestral version right now and I like it enough, but brass still wins.


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## KenOC

Gaspard de la Nuit said:


> Brass fits Bach's style in Art of Fugue the best, IMO. I used to have a recording of a brass quintet playing it, which was awesome. I'm listening to the orchestral version right now and I like it enough, but brass still wins.


Believe this is the one, AoF by the Canadian Brass. A classic, used for a penny! This is my favorite version of AoF to this day.


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## StlukesguildOhio

The fact that it is written in open score neither supports that it was not intended for performance, nor that it was particularly intended for chamber ensemble.

I'm not overly concerned as to what the artist's intentions were (as if we could even be certain of that). There are a great many works of art that we experience and enjoy in a manner quite removed from the artist's intentions. Regardless of Bach's intentions, the Art of Fugue is IMO one of his finest works... one I listen to again and again... and in various interpretations:



The Jordi Savall disc still remains my favorite...



... although I enjoy all of the above recordings.


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## gardibolt

I prefer it played orchestrally; I find it easier to follow the lines when you have different tonalities. You can accomplish that on an organ to some extent but I still find it blending together eventually.


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## Harmonie

It can only be harpsichord! My favorite non-wind instrument.

Although being a lover of winds, I have to post this if it hasn't already been posted!:


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## Dirge

"_The Art of Fugue_ looks like abstract mathematics and sounds like music of the profoundest kind." Alban Berg

When the wind is from the north, my favorite J. S. Bach opus is the versatile _The Art of Fugue_, which is like having many favorites in one, as it's able to adapt to and mostly survive all manner of arrangement, instrumentation, and/or orchestration. Some musicians/musicologists, especially the dour-looking harpsichord-playing ones, contend that the work is intended to be performed on harpsichord or organ, while others view Bach's lack of specificity (open score) as license to do whatever-hence the versions for accordions, kazoos, saxophones, harmonicas, bongo drums, wood blocks, and other instruments that Bach may or may not have had specifically in mind while writing _The Art of Fugue_. Whatever Bach would have thought of it, my favorite incarnation of _The Art of Fugue_ is Roger Vuataz's 1937 orchestration, made at the behest of conductor Hermann Scherchen, as performed by the Radio Beromünster Orchestra under Scherchen in the following radio broadcast recording:

J. S. BACH (arr. Vuataz): _Die Kunst der Fuge_, BWV 1080
:: Hermann Scherchen/Radio Beromünster Orchestra
[Radio Zürich/Decca/Tahra, rec. 1949.XI.21]

Vuataz's orchestration is a relatively stark, dark-hued setting that treats the orchestra as a virtual four-keyboard organ and allows, as Vuataz had hoped it would, "the listener to hear the skeleton of the work, to see the structure of its canons, counterpoints and fugues, so that they could speak for themselves." It also allows Scherchen's intensely earnest interpretation to come through in a most direct and unaffected way-much more so than through Scherchen's own orchestration from some years later, which is far too diverse/diffuse and ambitious for its own good. The orchestration comes in three sizes: regular, large, and extra-large. I'm guessing that Scherchen uses the "regular" for this recording (as does Vuataz in his 1963 recording with Les Solistes de Bruxelles on the Alpha label), which divides the orchestra into four groups: a 9-piece string section (3, 2, 2, 1, 1); a 5-piece string section (1, 1, 1, 1, 1); a string quartet (1, 1, 1, 1, 0); a woodwind quintet (flute, oboe, cor anglais, 2 bassoons). The "large" and "extra-large" sizes simply add strings to the two string sections, leaving the string quartet and woodwind quintet the same.

Of the eighteen movements (14 fugues and 4 canons), strings alone take six (I-IV, XIII & XIV), woodwinds alone take one (Canon alla Ottava), and strings & woodwinds together take the remaining eleven. The scale and scope ranges from one-instrument-to-a-voice chamber music to one-group-to-a-voice orchestra music, and everything in between. Vuataz does not necessarily assign an instrument or group of instruments to a given voice and stick with it throughout a given fugue; he'll sometimes re-assign roles mid fugue. Reassignments are done craftily enough that I can track voices without getting thrown too far off the scent, but I'd have traded variety for continuity (no reassignments). The unfinished fugue is left unfinished, with the orchestra playing the last few bars as a cadence and fading out-many listeners find an abrupt, unmitigated ending more poignant somehow, but I have no problem with the cadential fade-out as performed here.

Generally speaking, I find that mixing different families of instruments, especially when winds are involved, makes fugues more difficult to follow, as certain families of instruments are so much more attention-grabbing than others that I have problems apprehending and properly processing/balancing all of the voices in context. Scherchen/Beromünster is the only account wherein winds and strings coexist in a complementary manner to my ears: while I like to attribute this to the savvy arrangement, the larger number of strings to better counter the woodwinds, and the mostly well-judged perspective and instrumental balances, part of the credit must go to the limited range/fidelity of the recording, which doesn't allow the woodwinds to achieve their full bright & piercing/penetrating potential.

In any event, Scherchen leads a grimly focused and concentrated performance that has a sadly nostalgic air of unreconciled grief about much of the playing, this owing to the plaintive strings and melancholy woodwinds of the Radio Beromünster Orchestra. I've heard soloists play as such, but never an entire chamber orchestra-it's unique and uniquely poignant in my _The Art of Fugue_ listening experience. But all is not gloom, despair and agony on me, as rays of hope and joy and the like manage to shine through breaks in the overcast here and there-and they're all the more affecting for being relatively infrequent and unexpected.

The performance was recorded for Decca-whether by Radio Zürich or by a Decca team, I don't know. The recorded sound is a bit dry, coarse-grained, gray, and distressed/distorted but tolerable for the most part, though the perspective gets rather close-up for the four canons, which are played all in a row after Contrapunctus XI as a sort of chamber music interlude.

My other favorite accounts:

:: Charles Rosen (w/Olsen Archers in mirror fugues) [CBS '67] ~ piano
:: Reinhard Goebel/Musica Antiqua Köln [Archiv '84] ~ various combinations of Baroque strings (2 violins, 2 violas & cello) with or without harpsichord or one or two harpsichords
:: Delmé Quartet [Hyperion '99] ~ modern string quartet, arr. R. Simpson, with D. F. Tovey completion of final fugue; omits the canons

Rosen sounds like Rosen and plays _The Art of Fugue_ with his trademark intellectual and physical rigor, presenting the infrastructure and the architecture as one and the same in a sort of musical analog to the Eiffel Tower-structure without an applied façade. His playing is quite beautiful within that context, but no one will ever accuse Rosen of gilding the lily. He's joined by a second piano & pianist (Olsen Archers), in the mirror fugues, and the extreme stereo separation of the pianos adds a quasi-dueling intrigue to the episodes.

Goebel/MAK limits itself to a single family of instruments in all but four of the twenty-two tracks that it divvies the work into: 3 or 4 Baroque strings in seven tracks, 1 or 2 harpsichords in eleven tracks, and a combination of 3 or 4 strings and 1 harpsichord in four tracks (where the strings and harpsichords are so beautifully matched that they almost sound like members of the same family). The closely related sonorities prevent any one instrument/voice from standing out too much from the rest, making it easier to apprehend multiple voices at once. Both the harpsichord playing (by Andreas Staier and Robert Hill on uncommonly good-sounding harpsichords) and the string trio/quartet playing is as compelling as any that I've heard in _The Art of Fugue_. The strings do play with more HIP "squeeze" and curt phrasing than is common nowadays, but I can't say that it bothers me here. The pace is efficient and purposeful (as one expects from this group), but it never sounds needlessly fast or rushed (as it sometimes does with this group). This is by far my favorite of Goebel/MAK's Bach recordings, and the most warmly and naturally recorded too.

The Delmé Quartet plays the Robert Simpson arrangement, which includes transposing the work up to G minor so that it falls more comfortably/naturally into the modern string quartet's range. The arrangement omits the canons but includes the Tovey completion of the final fugue, with the uncompleted fugue provided as an addendum. The performance is beautifully conceived and executed and impressively focused and intense, with a compelling sense of momentum and purpose about it at all times-even the best of the competing string quartet versions sound lax by comparison. The higher pitch takes some getting used to, however, as does the group's dry, constricted string tone-exacerbated by the dry, bloomless recorded sound. I have no problem with the string tone per se, which is surprisingly complex and rich, colorful even, for being so dry and constricted, but with almost no resonant bloom to reinforce and flesh out the sound, there isn't ideal body and weight to be found here; this hurts the lower registers and instruments most. That said, the sound is quite interesting in its way; it's just not natural. (Reviewers/listeners who bother to comment on the recorded sound have nothing but praise for it, so I'm apparently alone in finding it problematic.)

Interesting alternatives that I find variously less convincing or less to my taste but still worthy of honorable mention:

:: Savall/Hespèrion XX [Astrée/Alia Vox '86] ~ period brass, woodwinds & strings
:: Alexander & Daykin [Connoisseur Society '94] ~ two pianos, arr. E. Schwebsch
:: Alessandrini/Concerto Italiano [Opus 111/Naïve '98] ~ period woodwinds, strings & harpsichord

Savall/Hespèrion XX gives a beautiful … distractingly beautiful … performance of many and varied instrumental colors, including brass-a rarity in mixed ensemble recordings of the work. The sonorous brass are especially hard to balance (hence their rarity, I suspect), but the sheer sound of it all is undeniably beguiling. The slow pace (conspicuously slow much of the time) and dignified/plaintive/melancholy atmosphere is almost Dowland-like (with Gabrieli overtones) at times, reinforced by the slightly archaic gamba sonorities. I'm not keen on the arrangement from a contrapuntal-clarity/voice-following perspective, but it's easy to wallow in the sound that Hespèrion XX makes, especially given the rich, warm, welcoming recording. So, an interesting alternative that I find more aesthetically appealing than contrapuntally compelling.

The Alexander & Daykin piano duo plays with great strength in reserve and a gentle touch, producing a firm but warm, rounded, impossibly mellow tone that's beautifully liquid and bell-like even at its most forceful; indeed, it's easy to forget that you're listening to pianos at times. There's a certain formulaic feel about the interpretations, however, with each contrapunctus beginning very gently but gradually and inevitably building up force and intensity as it goes-this is suggested by the music itself, but it's rather too conspicuous here somehow and a certain one-size-fits-all sameness creeps into the proceedings. That said, the playing is otherwise so well executed, choreographed, and coordinated (and, of course, so tonally beguiling) that I like it anyhow.

Alessandrini/Concerto Italiano gives a fleet and nimble, almost galant and jazzy performance using many and varied combinations of woodwinds, strings, and harpsichord, with some movements taken by harpsichord alone, but the Opus 111 team has done a much better job than most of balancing mixed families of instruments-although the occasional oboe outburst does manage to pierce my spine to the marrow. What also sets this account apart is its liberal view of ornamentation, dynamics, and rubato, and most controversially, its occasional employment of harpsichord continuo. It's all a bit too _The Art of Fugue Lite_ for my taste, but I include it here because it's very good in its way and a favorite of many listeners.


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## Mandryka

I don't think it's fair to say that Scherchen's grim, because it's so warm and humane and expressive. I do think it's serious and introspective and it is often quite melancholy as you suggest. But it's not always like this, there are jolly moments. He often (maybe always) slows down and increases the volume at the end of a piece, piling on the strings, to create a monumental climax to round it off, he does this even when he's decided to take a happy angle on a fugue. Once or twice he becomes too emotional for me, too schmaltzy and lugubrious. It makes me think of Schweitzer a bit, because of the seriousness, grandeur and the expressiveness. 

I do think it's a bit surprising that Scherchen didn't take a more modernist slant on the music, especially given Webern's work on Bach orchestrations. Or maybe there are elements of klangfarbenmelodie in this transcription which I'm forgetting or (more likely) never noticed. But we have what we have and it's a special document I think. 

I've never heard Alexander and Daykin but I've got a copy of it and I'll play it tomorrow or Thursday. It's interesting to have a two piano version - or is it one piano four hands?


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## hpowders

The plain old organ, especially as played by Helmut Walcha.


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## gprengel

I love this masterwork so much that I wrote my own orchestration for classical orchestra:

http://www.gerdprengel.de/KunstderFuge_contrapunctus9.mp3
http://www.gerdprengel.de/KunstderFuge_contrapunctus9.pdf

http://www.gerdprengel.de/KunstderFuge_FinalFuge.mp3
http://www.gerdprengel.de/KunstderFuge_FinalFuge.pdf

Gerd


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## Mandryka

Dirge said:


> [Scherchen 1949]. . . the four canons, which are played all in a row after Contrapunctus XI as a sort of chamber music interlude.


This seems to me by far the most interesting bit of the recording, he should have played them all like that IMO!


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## DavidA

Canadian Brass......


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## KenOC

DavidA said:


> Canadian Brass......


Your taste must be exquisite, since it agrees closely with my own! :tiphat:


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## Pugg

Bach, J S: The Art of Fugue, BWV1080/ Emerson String Quartet.
Just Stunning, capital S.


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## bioluminescentsquid

Wolfgang Rubsam has a very interesting recording on Lautenwerk (the Lute-harpsichord). There's more lute than harpsichord to his interpretation.


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## EarthBoundRules

Always harpsichord - it's tied with the oboe as my favourite instrument.


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## Omicron9

String quartet for sure. With each of the four voices in the composition being covered by four separate instruments, you can really hear Bach's intricate work come to life. Recommended: Keller Quartet on ECM, and Emerson on DG.

For piano, Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

-09


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## Myriadi

Most of the time I listen to Leonhardt's solo harpsichord version and Gould's recordings of invidiual fugues on piano. In my mind BWV 1080 was definitely conceived as a solo keyboard work. The great classic counterpoint collections of the 17th century, such as Frescobaldi's _Fiori musicali_, were almost always published with separate staves for each voice. Given how much Bach loved those older masters, and how BWV 1080 stylistically harks back to 17th century counterpoint (albeit with Bach's customary approach to harmony), it's only fair to assume he wanted to pay homage to that great tradition, and chose to format the publication accordingly.


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