Glenn Gould - Art of the Fugue - 70th Anniversary Edition
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Free Music Notes for Art of the Fugue - 70th Anniversary Edition
Free Music Review: THE VERY SOUL OF MUSIC
Hit: 5 Stars
What you will find on this disc is A) contrapunctus I-IX played on two different organs in 1962; B) contrapunctus I II & IV from a1981 TV broadcast; C) contrapunctus IX XI & XIII in mono from a radio broadcast in 1967; D) the unfinished contrapunctus XIV from what may or may not be the same TV broadcast as B); and as a final filler E) a prelude and fugue on the name BACH from a studio recording in 1980. Items B)-E) are given on the piano.
Gould's organ renderings ran into critical flak at the time, and whether for that reason or because organ-playing aggravated a shoulder condition that the maestro suffered from he never completed the project. The sound of the piano is a little below standard in C), with some background hiss and a slightly emaciated tone, but even it is not really bad, B) and D) are better, and E) better still sound-wise. The sound of the organs has been criticised, but I do not criticise it and indeed it suits me very well. Nothing in the sound-quality from start to finish interferes in any way with my appreciation of Gould's wonderful, visionary and unique Bach-playing.
This disc does not offer you the complete Art of Fugue, so anyone who wants what's here is going to want it for something special in the performance. Gould is always special I guess, but not special in ways that suit everyone. My feeling is that if you are of the school that wants the Art of Fugue played `expressively' you can probably leave this offering alone. Once Gould sets a tempo he sticks to it unflinchingly without rubato, and except for some build-up in the tone as D) progresses there is a very restricted range of dynamics within each piece, although the individual pieces are strongly contrasted in respect of both volume-level and pace. Interestingly, in those numbers which he gives in two different performances, he takes a markedly different approach each time. Conrapunctus II IV and IX are very much faster in the piano version than on the organ, but contrapunctus I on the piano is taken very slowly indeed, lasting nearly twice as long as in the organ account. It is a matter of one's own concept of the work basically. For me, the Art of Fugue is the ultimate in abstract `absolute' music. It is a monument of remote sublimity like pure mathematics or like the stars in the sky, and it is just there for us to wonder at and does not reach out to us or `express' anything. The player's task is to convey its grandeur, and for me Gould does that as no other version, (on any instruments whatsoever - Bach specifies none) has ever done for me, and I feel this most acutely in his much-criticised organ renderings. The organs he uses are not giants, and there is only limited use of the pedals. He uses mainly a detached fingering, although embracing a more legato style in contrapunctus VI. However it stands to reason that the parts in long sustained notes do not admit of the detached treatment, and I love Gould's selection of strongly contrasted stops to assist clarity further. These are the means he adopts. What these means are in furtherance of is an impression of utter grandeur in the sublime march of Bach's polyphony. It is even a privilege to be shown how this grandeur can be viewed from startlingly different angles in his alternative interpretations of 4 of the fugues.
The last fugue from the Art, the unfinished contrapunctus XIV, is taken at a very slow pace and ends abruptly where the dying composer left it. In the normal way of things I detest this procedure - whatever Bach intended it wasn't that, and in a composition that is the ne plus ultra of method many competent musicians have supplied conclusions that must, in the very nature of the case, approximate to what Bach himself would have done. However this was a television performance, and I gather that the camera was made to freeze at this point with Gould's right hand poised dramatically in mid-air. Gould, who kicked Ravel's piano transcription of La Valse into touch and wrote his own, is having none of that when it comes to Bach, and under the circumstances I stifle my own normal reaction to this abrupt hiatus.
One of the most extraordinary things about Bach is how popular he manages to be for all his seeming severity. The Art of Fugue is innocent of the lyricism that was also part of Bach's infinite musical gift, it makes no compromises with us, but I would say to newcomers to the work that Gould's accounts, partial as they are, would be the best place to start to know this unique and towering masterpiece. It is not any indivisible entity in any case. Better, to start with, to hear some of it presented like this than the entire set in many another, perhaps indeed in any other, version.
Free Music Review: Bach Reincarnate?
Hit: 5 Stars
If you are interested in the Art of Fugue, get this organ recording by Gould and Tatiana Nikolayeva's rendition on piano. Forget about everything else. The latter version has two advantages: it contains the entire Art of Fugue (as well as the Musical Offering) and the recording quality is better. Those things aside, in everything from vision to virtuosity, Gould is far beyond his Russian competitor. Many people have complained about Gould's heterodox manner of playing the organ. It seems reasonable to me at least that though Gould chose to play the Art of Fugue on the one instrument that would give the separate voices, indeed, every note, dynamic equality and impart to them as much as possible the lyric quality of the human voice, he didn't feel compelled for those reasons too to alter his trademark staccato style. What we have here, then, is Bach's masterpiece performed with sound powerful and regal enough to do it justice (Contrapunctus VI is a great example), but with the clipped, clavichord rhythm that brings out like nothing else the playful personalities of which these fugues consist, emphasizing as Gould always does the conversational diversity and harmony that is the essence of counterpoint. Contrapunctus VIII, for instance, definitely a highlight of this recording, necessarily elicits a smile from the listener every time, it is played with such childlike frivolity. These, along with the rapid tempos, are Gould's artistic choices as he tries, not simply to perform the work, but to bring it to life, and I think he is successful. His Contrapunctus I is simply the greatest recording of this seminal fugue ever executed.
Not all is as desired, however. One clear instance in which a fugue defies Gould on this record is Contrapunctus III. Here Gould manages merely to transform what Nikolayeva's rendition has proven to be the equal and counterpart of Contrapunctus I into at best a handicapped half-brother and at worst a grotesque circus side-show. And of course the recording is incomplete. One cannot help but wonder just how the mysterious canons and especially Contrapunctus XIV, which Gould himself approached with fear and trembling, would have sounded from his organ. Unfortunately, the man who seemed to have such a close kinship to Bach proved not to have any share of his longevity and died young, bequeathing to us the definitive recording of the Goldberg Variations, but leaving this greatest work, as Bach himself did, unfinished.
Free Music Review: Amazing, terrible, profound...
Hit: 5 Stars
Gould's final performances of the Art of the Fugue - particularly the final, unfinished Contrapunctus XIV - are absolutely stunning. They are probably as close to divine as music can aspire.
His earlier attempt to master Bach's monumental work is on organ and it is a shocker - the first 10 tracks of this cd are worthy as a curio or for the perverse.
But the last half of the album redeems the organ catastrophe and then some. Listen to the last fugue and realise that even with Gould singing, even unfinished, it is truly awesome.
Free Music Review: Excellent Rendition of the Art of the Fugue
Hit: 5 Stars
This is my first Glenn Gould CD. At first, I was surprised by his staccato organ playing, but I soon began to really enjoy the CD. Some may find Mr. Gould's humming annoying, but I found it amusing (it doesn't bother me much). I only heard the humming on the tracks with piano and found that Gould was really into Bach. I have heard Glenn Gould's playing on the radio and must say that he is truly a master of Bach's keyboard music. The sound quality is good and the jewel case is very nice. I highly recommend this item if you like Bach, Gould, or both.Free Music Review: I love Bach. I love Glen Gould.
Hit: 5 Stars
Its hard not to think when i hear this album "Greatest pianist playing greatest composers most complicated and difficult to write pieces...". Its no understatment to say that bach was better at what he did than probably anyone else was at what they did. PERIOD. the music shows it, and glen gould (that damn genius) does it nearly perfectly with some interesting surprises. i loooooovvvvvveeee it. It will make you very happy.