# I'd like me some fugues, please...



## mensch (Mar 5, 2012)

I'm looking for new, worthwhile fugal works to listen to (toccatas, fantasias, ricercars, passacaglias, etc. are fine too). I'm aware of this massive effort, but that project aims to be an all-inclusive and complete overview, not a list of recommended repertoire.

Compositions I already know and love are:

*Die Kunst der Fuge (J.S. Bach)*
I own a version for string quartet by the Emerson Quartet, a piano version by Pierre-Laurant Aimard and one by the Concerto Italiano conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini.

*Musikalische Opfer (J.S. Bach)*
Jordi Savall conducts Le Concert des Nations.

*Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (J.S. Bach)*
Angela Hewitt, piano.

*Toccata & Fuge (J.S. Bach)*
This is a collection of works played Ton Koopman on organ. I'm particularly fond of the "Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582"

*Prelude, Choral et Fugue (César Franck)*
Really impressed with the delightful thematic development in each of the movements. My recording is by Evgeny Kissin.

*Große Fuge, Op. 133 (L. van Beethoven)*
It seems that whenever Beethoven gets his fugue going the results are great. The "Große Fuge" is one of my favourite works, along with the fourth movement of the Piano Sonata No. 29.

*Preludes & Fugues for piano, Op. 87*
Sadly my only record of 20th century preludes and fugues. It's a recording by Jenny Lin.

So, what do you recommend (regardless of era) based on the pieces above or do you know (better) alternative performances of the ones above (most of the Baroque pieces weren't always written with specific instrumentation in mind)?


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C is one of his masterpieces.

How about the great 5-part fugue in the the final movement of Mozart's Jupiter symphony?


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Some of my favorite fugues are in:

Bach's toccata in e-minor, bwv914 & toccata in g-minor, bwv911
Mozart's fantasy and fugue in c, kv394


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## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

There's a nice fugue in the last movement of Arthur Bliss' Colour Symphony. It didn't make the big list.


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

All the Bach organ fugues are amazing. This is my favourite:

JS Bach Preludio e Fuga in re minore Bwv 539 Hans Fagius, orgel


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Ernest Bloch Concerto Grosso 1 Finale





W.F. Bach Adagio and Fugue(Fugue at 3:55)




Alan Hovhaness Mysterious Mountain(Symphony 2, mvt. 2, "Double Fugue")(Second fugue section, more fun, at 2:21)





Wiliam Boyce(English Baroque composer)-Symphony 8 movement 1

William Schuman(20th century american composer)-Symphony 3 movement 2

Corelli Concerto Grosso op 6 no. 1(at 6:47)





Handel Concerto Grosso op 6 no. 1(Corelli anyone?)





Tchaikovsky Symphony 3 "Polish" Finale(40:32)


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## Stargazer (Nov 9, 2011)

The fugues in Beethoven's Piano Sonata 31 are among my favorites (though the work itself isn't exclusively a fugue)


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

What are fugues but frivolous psuedointellectual academic strictures obscuring clarity of expression of passion and drama? A good fugue writer is a bad composer.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

Couchie said:


> What are fugues but frivolous psuedointellectual academic strictures obscuring clarity of expression of passion and drama? A good fugue writer is a bad composer.


Fugues are OK as long as nobody puts them above the Gesamtkunstwerk.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Ahem...

Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, by Brahms. WONDERFUL! :-D


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

SiegendesLicht said:


> Fugues are OK as long as nobody puts them above the Gesamtkunstwerk.


To the best of my knowledge, nobody does. Who could put these trifles, enslaved to form, above The Total Art?


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

Robert Schumann - Vier Fugen

John Dowland - A Fantasia

William Byrd - A Fancy


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

Couchie said:


> To the best of my knowledge, nobody does. Who could put these trifles, enslaved to form, above The Total Art?


*raises hand*


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Klavierspieler said:


> *raises hand*


I have always found the taste of cats questionable at best.

Gravy helps.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

I always thought that the polka and fugue from Weinberger's "Schwanda the Bagpiper" was a hell of a thing.


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

Couchie said:


> I have always found the taste of cats questionable at best.
> 
> Gravy helps.


Uh-huh. Why don't you and your Valkyrie-helmet go jump on a pyre somewhere.


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

TC Top Recommended Fugal Works?

Who's with me?


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)




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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

The discussion should be expanded to include fugattas. I would include fugettes, but I don't know of any.


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Hilltroll72 said:


> The discussion should be expanded to include fugattas. I would include fugettes, but I don't know of any.


Yes and fughettas also......


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Philip said:


> Yes and fughettas also......


Hah. That may be the term I was striving to remember?


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Isn't this lovely?


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

Not as lovely as this:


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Isn't this glorious?


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

Not as glorious as this:


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Isn't this breathtaking?


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

Not as breathtaking as this:


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Dodecaplex said:


> Not as breathtaking as this:


I win. You used a fugue mentioned in the OP.


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

Philip said:


> I win. You used a fugue mentioned in the OP.


When did you come up with the rules?


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Dodecaplex please RVSP my first post in this thread.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Couchie said:


> What are fugues but frivolous psuedointellectual academic strictures obscuring clarity of expression of passion and drama? A good fugue writer is a bad composer.


zOMG but you know nothing but Wagner, the Mama-Drama of Opera, and Homophony, then. That is Okee-dokey, of course, but then why would anyone with the petite bourgeois mentality of a lover of Gesamtkunstwerk be at all interested in fugues from any era anyway? If your taste is flagrant hit-over-the-head flamboyant melodrama, you're sooo unlikely to be interested in the quiet and subtle interior drama which so often is a fugue.

Stay with what you know sweetie; smooch, smooch. What would you know of music without textual context, it seems is an appropriate question in return.

Have a good night out at the Grand Theater in the Loge with all your more than glamorous friends and leave the real musicians at peace, please.

P.s. And you call THAT 'a contribution?' Tsk, Tsk.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

PetrB said:


> zOMG but you know nothing but Wagner, the Mama-Drama of Opera, and Homophony, then. That is Okee-dokey, of course, but then why would anyone with the petite bourgeois mentality of a lover of Gesamtkunstwerk be at all interested in fugues from any era anyway? If your taste is flagrant hit-over-the-head flamboyant melodrama, you're sooo unlikely to be interested in the quiet and subtle interior sort of drama which so often is a fugue.
> 
> Stay with what you know sweetie; smooch, smooch. What would you know of music without textual context, it seems is an appropriate question in return.
> 
> Have a good night out at the Grand Theater in the Loge with all your more than glamorous friends and leave the real musicians at peace, please.


My first impressions: you are a bundle of joy, aren't you?


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

*a few fugues / fugue movements*

Bartok: Music for Stringed instruments, Percussion and Celesta, 1st movement.





Stravinsky:
Symphony of Psalms, 2nd movement (Inverted double fugue)





Concerto for two pianos soli, IV; Prelude and fugue




... from a playlist link, concerto 3/3, movement starts @ 4'25'' -- hope it works.

Cantata, for Soprano, Tenor, women's chorus, instrumental ensemble
I. A lyke-wake dirge. Versus 1. Prelude -- This ae nighte
II. RICERCAR I. The maidens came




III. A lyke-wake dirge. Versus 2. First interlude -- If ever you gav'st hos'n and shoon
IV. RICERCAR II. Sacred History. To-morrow shall be my dancing day




V. A lyke-wake dirge. Versus 3. Second interlude -- From Whinnymuir when thou may'st pass
VI. Westron Wind
VII. A lyke-wake dirge. Versus 4. Postlude -- If ever thou gav'st meat or drink

In Memoriam Dylan Thomas, dirge-canons & song for voice, string quartet & 4 trombones
O.K. Canonic, but certainly in the ball-park. Elegant, moving, five-pitch serial matrix derived.

Stravinsky / Bach - Vom Himmel Hoch variations - canonic, DELIGHTFUL & PLAYFUL, and sounding pretty wonderful.





William Schuman ~ Symphony No. 3 part 1, Passacaglia and fugue

Samuel Barber ~ Piano Sonata, 4th movement scherzo and Fugue





ADD: There is a little matter of Shostakovitch's 24 preludes and fugues, for piano, modeled after an obscure work by some Saxon 18th century contrapuntist


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Couchie said:


> My first impressions: you are a bundle of joy, aren't you?


Ditto, boyo. I think you ought to hire a theater and see if anyone comes....


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

PetrB said:


> Ditto, boyo. I think you ought to hire a theater and see if anyone comes....


Give into the Wagner. You know every fibre of your being cries so.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

PetrB said:


> Ditto, boyo. I think you ought to hire a theater and see if anyone comes....


Or take over Bayreuth. I have a suspicion he would run it far better than the current management. At least he would probably kick all those "Regietheater" stage directors with their rat costumes for Lohengrin out the door.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Couchie said:


> Give into the Wagner. You know every fibre of your being cries so.


Thank you, no. I think a hot tub, scented candles and a little ambient music fill the the same need quite nicely.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)




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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

The most beautiful, concise fugue ever written?


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

Not as beautiful and concise as this one:


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Isn't this joyously well-developed?


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

Not as joyously well-developed as this:


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Isn't this perky and unfinished?


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## Norse (May 10, 2010)

Hindemith's double fugue from the 3rd piano sonata.


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

BWV 686 

One of only two six-voice fugues that he wrote. Definitely one of his _loudest_ compositions. My headphones struggle with it.

Edit: Found this:


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

Philip said:


> Isn't this perky and unfinished?
> 
> [video]


Not as perky and unfinished as this:


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Dodecaplex said:


> Not as perky and unfinished as this:


I win. Piece not by Bach.

Edit: Funny though.


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

Isn't this creative and self-referential?


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Dodecaplex said:


> Isn't this creative and self-referential?


FFFFFFFfffffffffuuuuuuuuuuu

Edit:

Euuuhh not as creative and self-referential as this..?


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

Philip said:


> FFFFFFFfffffffffuuuuuuuuuuu


I win. "FFFFFFFfffffffffuuuuuuuuuuu" is not a fugue.


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

Philip said:


> Edit:
> Euuuhh not as creative and self-referential as this..?
> 
> video


Where's the self-reference? I'm assuming the composer's name appears as a musical cryptogram?

Anyway, isn't this lengthy and unplayable?




 (about 65 minutes)


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Dodecaplex said:


> Where's the self-reference? I'm assuming the composer's name appears as a musical cryptogram?
> 
> Anyway, isn't this lengthy and unplayable?
> 
> ...


I'll get back to this later......... for now, let's listen to one of my favourite fugues:


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## Norse (May 10, 2010)

A couple of arrangements of Bach organ P&F's I enjoy.

BWV 545 in Liszt's piano version. The fugue (starts at 2:00) is fairly simple and majestic. I used to work on it myself, maybe I should take it up again.






Respighi's extatic orchestration of BWV 532. One could say the strict purity of the fugue is lost, but it's pretty mighty stuff. (Fugue starts at 4:04)


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## mensch (Mar 5, 2012)

Thanks for all the recommendations so far and all of Couchie's contributions, of course.


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## Praeludium (Oct 9, 2011)

Klavierspieler said:


> Robert Schumann - Vier Fugen
> 
> John Dowland - A Fantasia
> 
> William Byrd - A Fancy


Thank you so much for this post. i just discovered Schumann's Vier Fugen op72 thanks to you. They're amazing.


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

Couchie said:


> What are fugues but frivolous psuedointellectual academic strictures obscuring clarity of expression of passion and drama? A good fugue writer is a bad composer.


Sorry, let me rephrase that. Yes, they are academic strictures with a prescribed form. But great composers can write great fugues fill of expression and drama, despite any formal strictures. The literature is full of them. Listen to the great double fugue simultaneously on "Kyrie eleison" and "Christe eleison" in the Mozart Requiem. This is a man praying his soul into Heaven through the power of his writing. Sorry, but what you say is sheer hogwash.


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Couchie said:


> What are fugues but frivolous psuedointellectual academic strictures obscuring clarity of expression of passion and drama? A good fugue writer is a bad composer.














SiegendesLicht said:


> Fugues are OK as long as nobody puts them above the Gesamtkunstwerk.














Couchie said:


> To the best of my knowledge, nobody does. Who could put these trifles, enslaved to form, above The Total Art?














Klavierspieler said:


> *raises hand*














Couchie said:


> Dodecaplex please RVSP my first post in this thread.














PetrB said:


> zOMG but you know nothing but Wagner, the Mama-Drama of Opera, and Homophony, then. That is Okee-dokey, of course, but then why would anyone with the petite bourgeois mentality of a lover of Gesamtkunstwerk be at all interested in fugues from any era anyway? If your taste is flagrant hit-over-the-head flamboyant melodrama, you're sooo unlikely to be interested in the quiet and subtle interior drama which so often is a fugue.
> 
> Stay with what you know sweetie; smooch, smooch. What would you know of music without textual context, it seems is an appropriate question in return.
> 
> ...


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## chee_zee (Aug 16, 2010)

hahaha lmfao what the floop?!


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

Barelytenor said:


> Sorry, let me rephrase that. Yes, they are academic strictures with a prescribed form. But great composers can write great fugues fill of expression and drama, despite any formal strictures. The literature is full of them. Listen to the great double fugue simultaneously on "Kyrie eleison" and "Christe eleison" in the Mozart Requiem. This is a man praying his soul into Heaven through the power of his writing. Sorry, but what you say is sheer hogwash.


I have thought more about this and realize I am being _apologetic _for fugues, for God's sake! The fugues of the best composers _intensify the drama and passion _through their insistence of different voices repeating the same plea, joy, mystery, prayer, merriment, you name it. This is a VEHICLE for drama and passion, not a stricture. Beyond hogwashie!


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Barelytenor said:


> I have thought more about this and realize I am being _apologetic _for fugues, for God's sake! The fugues of the best composers _intensify the drama and passion _through their insistence of different voices repeating the same plea, joy, mystery, prayer, merriment, you name it. This is a VEHICLE for drama and passion, not a stricture. Beyond hogwashie!


I would've included you in the fishing trip but the board only allows 6 pictures per post


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

Couchie said:


> What are fugues but frivolous psuedointellectual academic strictures obscuring clarity of expression of passion and drama? A good fugue writer is a bad composer.


The fugue only became academic after the Baroque. For Bach it was one of forms most closely associated with improvisation, more so than sarabandes, gavottes, etc. It has no fixed rhythm, can be any length, can modulate anywhere, is not associated with a particular tempo or mood, and can be any level of complexity (the BWV 855 fugue never has more than two notes played at the same time). So long as composers were able to intuitively "see" how themes could be combined, the fugue remained a free form. After the Baroque, composers forgot how to do that, and that's when it began to seem strict.


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## chee_zee (Aug 16, 2010)

I've found the fugue to be the most strict form, and also has the possibility of being the loosest, perhaps more than the sonata form (obviously I'm talking form here, not avante-garde).


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## Norse (May 10, 2010)

Well, as they say; "The Fugue is not a form, it's a principle."


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## Dimboukas (Oct 12, 2011)

I am fascinated when I find 'hidden' fugues in compositions that are not normally contrapuntal such as in romantic music. For example, I like the fugues in Brahms's first Piano Concerto in the third movement and in Schumann's Piano Quintet in the fourth movement. Such fugues give another feeling!


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