Bach's superlative Art of Fugue

[Sydney Grew]

It rather resembles van Beethoven's last quartettes, in that their respective composers were unconstrained by considerations of any audience's convenience or comprehension, but developed their invention freely in a pure and utterly serious style. As usual Sydney Grew the Elder our most astute writer on music puts it so well: "Here Bach wrote as an abstract artist, with no thought of gain or glory."

The word "seminal" is often bandied about, but indeed the Art of Fugue contains a number of seeds that even after two and a half centuries have not yet germinated. "The Art of Bach the master, old, wise, and experienced almost beyond belief, was Miltonic in majesty, ease, and certainty, and remains unsurpassed." And as Sydney Grew continues, "Here domains were entered which had previously been contemplated only theoretically." The desperate scrabblings of to-day's puny modernists seem only laughable in comparison do not they.

There are many recordings, for many different instrumental combinations. One of the most rewarding we have found to be that of the Juilliard Quartette.

What are other Members' views on this staggering work?

[Gordon]

This glorious work although a bit austere to approach at first. Once you get into it it is most absorbing on a different scale to the 48 for example which is more qpproachable. I have a CD of a string quartet arangement by Robert Simpson but also a string orchestra wersion [arr ??] as well as Tatiana Nikolayeva and Glenn Gould on the piano. All very different but all aspects of that same creative force that was Bach.

I came across a set of 2CDs and a DVD in one pack a few weeks back [in Worcester cathedral but I've seen it in other cathedrals too] which has a set of lectures on the AoF by Bach scholar Christoph Wolff and a complete performance [along with other works like the Schublers as fillers] on the organ by George Ritchie. Highly revealing.