Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach, Thierry Escaich
Performer: Eloïse Bella Kohn
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hänssler
Catalogue: HC21049
Release: 2021
Size: 1.29 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
The Art of Fugue, BWV1080
CD 01
01. Contrapunctus I
02. Contrapunctus II
03. Contrapunctus III
04. Contrapunctus IV
05. Contrapunctus V
06. Contrapunctus VI à 4 in stylo francese
07. Contrapunctus VII à 4 per augmentationem et diminutionem
08. Contrapunctus VIII à 3
09. Contrapunctus IX à 4 alla duodecima
10. Contrapunctus X à 4 alla decima
CD 02
01. Contrapunctus XI à 4
02. Contrapunctus XIIa à 4 in forma rectus
03. Contrapunctus inversus XII à 4
04. Contrapunctus XIII à 3
05. Contrapunctus inversus XIII à 3
06. Canon alla ottava
07. Canon alla decima
08. Canon alla duodecima
09. Canon per Augmentationem in contrario motu
10. Contrapunctus XIV “Fuga à 3 soggetti” [Completed T. Escaich]
After several decades of debate, it is now firmly established that The Art of Fugue was composed for harpsichord. The notation on four staves could lead to confusion and wrongly suggest that the work was intended for an ensemble of four instruments. But this scheme of notation for a keyboard instrument was not uncommon in the past (e.g. it was used by the Italian Girolamo Frescobaldi in his Fiori Musicali), as it facilitates the visualization and grasp of each individual voice’s progression and beauty.
Eloïse Bella Kohn is convinced that played appropriately and with artistic integrity, the piano can serve Bach’s music superbly. In this recording she has played entirely without pedal so that the splendour of the contrapuntal lines is fully rendered. In some cases, for instance an appoggiatura, the piano allows for perfect imitation of a form of vocality, like a singer following the tonic accents of a language and pronouncing one syllable more quietly than another.