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| Bach: Art of Fugue | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 8 reviews)
Sales Rank: 12689
Category: Music
Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.7 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 001076502
UPC: 028947773450
EAN: 0028947773450
ASIN: B000ZGKBYE
Release Date: March 11, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Contrapunctus I | | • | Contrapunctus II | | • | Contrapunctus III | | • | Contrapunctus IV | | • | Contrapunctus V | | • | Contrapunctus VI, a 4 in Style Francese | | • | Contrapunctus VII, a 4 per Augmentationem et Diminutionem | | • | Contrapunctus VIII, a 3 | | • | Contrapunctus IX, a 4 alla Duodecima | | • | Contrapunctus X, a 4 alla Decima | | • | Contrapunctus XI, a 4 | | • | Contrapuncuts XII.1, a 4 | | • | Contrapunctus inversus XII.2, a 4 | | • | Contrapunctus inversus XIII.1, a 3 | | • | Contrapunctus inversus XIII.2, a 3 | | • | Canon alla Ottava | | • | Canon alla Decima in Contrapuncto alla Terza | | • | Canon alla Duodecima in Contrapuncto alla Quinta | | • | Canon per Augmentationem in Contrario Motu | | • | Contrapunctus XIV (Fuga a 3 Soggetti) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
Pierre-Laurent Aimard's debut on Deutsche Grammophon is the first recording of the mystical The Art of Fugue by a world-renowned pianist in 25 years. As a pre-eminent performer of modern music, Aimard brings a unique and exciting approach to his first ever Bach recording also serving as his first recording of Baroque repertoire. Given his links to many of the great contemporary composers, the high-profile Aimard is certain to generate much interest in the musical press with his first Bach recording. Aimard will perform The Art of Fugue in many musical venues around the world, in cities including New York, Paris, Vienna, Berlin and Tokyo.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
great playing but harsh sound May 8, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I admire Aimard's playing ever since I heard him live several years back, and he never disappointed me with each of his new recordings, except this one. His playing is still excellent, but I didn't like the sound on the CD, which seems harsher than any of his previous CDs. I wonder if it's because the piano he's playing on or the overly done sound engineering during the recording. Aimard's playing is always marked by his clarity and liquid tone quality even with the most demanding passages. On this CD however, the clarity is still there but I somehow find the tone quality a little irritating to hear.
 Aimard's Art of the FUgue April 23, 2008
0 out of 9 found this review helpful
If you cannot live without Bach, you should not live without this recording of the Art of the FUgue by Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Satisfactory... April 20, 2008
12 out of 23 found this review helpful
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This new release of Bach's Art of Fugue is good; adequate; satisfactory.
I do hope people will enjoy it, and that it may be a good introduction to esoteric art.
Bach's recherche Art of Fugue is cerebral, purely abstract art which can really only be fully apprehended by viewing the orthography of Bach's text: in other words, it looks better in the mind's eye than it sounds to the physical ear.
Withal, it's pretty dry stuff.
Aimard's realization here is--to be brutally honest--drier than is even necessary; still, it's not at all bad, though there are better.
Enjoy this issue, and for the absolute finest too seek:
Bach: Die Kunst der Fugue
Bach: The Art of the Fugue, BWV 1080 (Excerpts); Prelude and Fugue on Bach, BWV 898
Art of the Fugue - 70th Anniversary Edition
Bach: Art of Fugue, BWV 1080 Vol
Bach: The Art of Fugue
Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge
Bach: The Art of Fugue, Vol. 1
Bach: The Art of Fugue, Vol. 2
Bach: The Organ Works (Box Set)
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 Professional but not transcendent... April 5, 2008
22 out of 25 found this review helpful
If I have to pick a performance on Piano, Glenn Gould's recording, incomplete though it is, remains my favorite. After that, Feltsman's remains my preferred. I also have Sokolov, but Feltsman, to my ears, brings more joy where there is joy, and more sorrow where there is sorrow. Sokolov's playing is cleaner, more Gould-like, but without Gould's intense "romanticism" or emotional investment. Feltsman is also a more idiosyncratic pianist, willing to inflect the music with his own personality. Sometimes he does so to a fault, as with his recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, which I wouldn't recommend.
One of my favorites is Contrapunctus 9. Feltsman digs into the fugue with all the gusto of Gould's famous performance on the organ. Sokolov's performance of the same piece is slower and comes with a sense of detachment - a little too studied.
Aimard's rendition takes a similarly happy pace to Gould and Feltsman, but it is oddly monochromatic. The sense of an overarching direction or drama is missing, and this is the feeling that much of Aimard's performances leave me with. I have no doubt that he can conceive of the piece in its entirety, but somehow he doesn't translate that in his playing. The sum does not exceed its parts.
The other element that I miss in Aimard's playing is idiosyncrasy. Each of his fingers strikes the keys with the sort of pearled consistency that is the mark, not of the artist, but of the professional. I miss the unexpected turns of phrases and emphasis that are the hallmarks of a Gould and, to a degree, Feltsman.
Clarity March 24, 2008
25 out of 48 found this review helpful
I am not a musicologist, but I am someone who has listened to quite a few performance of the Art of the Fugue over the last 45 years and I can say that I find the Aimard performance to be among the very best. I did carefully examine the review be Villegem and also looked, in detail, at his many other reviews. He is obviously a discerning and well informed person, but I simply find his review of this breathtaking performance, at best, academic in the worst sense of the word. If Aimard's technique fails to conform to the scholarly work of several musicologists, what difference does that really make? Can we say with certainty that that is true? I very much doubt it.
We are separated by a vast gulf of time between the writing of this music and now. Who knows how Bach would have preferred to have the Kunst der Fuge performed? Who is to say that even his conception and personal style is the best for this music? How we listen and enjoy music is very subjective. I haven't found the performances of Copland's music conducted by the composer to be the best. The same holds for Stravinsky. I do know that Aimard's performance is like light penetrating the massive complexity of this work. The end of the final fugue is truly a moment of immense and cosmic proportions. This performance is very very highly recommended.
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