Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Simpson
Performer: Delmé Quartet
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hyperion
Catalogue: CDA67138
Release: 2000
Size: 357 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
The Art of Fugue, BWV1080
01. I. Contrapunctus I
02. II. Contrapunctus II
03. III. Contrapunctus III
04. IV. Contrapunctus IV
05. V. Contrapunctus V
06. VI. Contrapunctus VI ‘in stylo Francese’
07. VII. Contrapunctus VII ‘per augmentationem et diminutionem’
08. VIII. Contrapunctus VIII
09. IX. Contrapunctus IX ‘alla duodecima’
10. X. Contrapunctus X ‘alla decima’
11. XI. Contrapunctus XI
12. XII. Contrapunctus XII Rectus
13. XIII. Contrapunctus XII Inversus
14. XIV. Contrapunctus XIII Rectus
15. XV. Contrapunctus XIII Inversus
16. XVI. Contrapunctus XIV (Tovey completion)
17. XVII. Contrapunctus XIV (uncompleted)
Fed up with endless Bach recordings this year? Hyperion have added some variation to all of the releases for the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death by recording Robert Simpson’s arrangement of the well-known Art of Fugue for string quartet. The Art of Fugue has been arranged for many media, even for orchestra, but Simpson believed it was essential that the four parts should retain their identities throughout (not possible with colourful orchestral mixtures), and saw the string quartet as the ideal medium for conveying the beauty of four-part counterpoint with perfect clarity and sensitivity. Sleeve notes are by Robert Simpson, written before his death in 1997, and Howard Smith.