Customer Reviews

Bach: The Art of Fugue

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bach's ultimate composition has so often been described as cerebral that it's inclined to put a casual listener off. Much as I admire Charles Rosen's piano recording, for example, I find it's not uncommon for the mind to wander off somewhere around the halfway mark. Perhaps it's the strings' ability to project a lyrical line, but I find the Emerson Quartet gripping from beginning to premature end, and after living with this CD for a while, the work makes more sense to me. The Art of Fugue is a monumental piece of art: like a great sculpture, it simply exists, and as a listener you may bring to it as much or as little as you like without affecting its integrity. Unlike, say, a Mahler symphony, it does not demand complete emotional commitment (except from the performers, which it definitely gets here)- and yet, when the music just stops mid-stream at the point where Bach supposedly died, the shock is greater than any number of Mahlerian hammer blows.
Beautifully recorded, sensitively played and, to descend to earth for a moment, I notice it's also discounted. Perfect.

If one word could sum up this performance it would be "smooth." I have come late to the recordings of the Emerson String Quartet. This has to be among this very worthwhile group's best.

The Art of the Fugue is, if not my favorite piece by Bach, then certainly high on the short-list. This is music fully realized--with an almost mystic greatness. Les Violins du Roy and the Delme Quartet (in Robert Simpson's arrangement) have both done great chamber versions of the work.

This recording by the Emerson Quartet is well at ease in such lofty company.

This recording lets the music speak for itself. It does so brilliantly. The crystal clear sound quality works hand in hand with the performance.

Everything here is evenhanded and well judged. This is pulled off without any loss of the music's passion, fire, or insight. I cannot recommend this version of Bach's last great work highly enough.

If you are considering getting a copy, do not hesitate.

The Emerson Quartet are the last word is modern, slick string quartet groups. Their extremely streamlined sound works very well sometimes, othertimes not. Their recording are usually worth a listen, and usually rank high with the Gramophone, Penguin & BBC critics, but I often find I enjoy other quartets more in given works, and have often traded in for different versions. Too often, they're just too slick. In this case, that slickness works in just the right way.
My other string quartet version is a magnificent one by The Juilliard Quartet, their approach being completely different from the present set. The Juilliard perform this work, solemnly, deeply, and slowly, as if played in a cloister, or the medieval room at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It seems as if they've tried to make their quartet have the aural identity of a combo of viols (which is another good choice for this work, see the album by Fretwork, or parts of Jordi Savall's conception). If you're in the right frame of mind, and see this work as primarily a communion with the higher power, or a last throwback to the days of Sainte Columbe and Marin Marais, it would be hard to top this. I think one of this quartets best records.

In comparison, The Emersons provide a soundtrack for an art deco streamlined railway journey...their tempos are consistantly faster, with more sprite in their steps. The work certainly is EASIER to listen to this way, especially complete in one sitting. Their blend is smooth, they play wonderfully, but do lack the gravitas brought to the room by The Juilliards, or The Delme Quartet on Hyperion (in an edition prepared by Robert Simpson). But since this is a rather difficult work, and repetitive, The speed of the group gets to the point of each matter, choosing not to dwell on man's place in the universe, but to present a great piece of music for all to ENJOY! I would ultimately offer The Emersons as a first choice for newcomers to the work (although an orchestral transcription, by say Nevill Marriner & ASMF, might be the best intro, since the reputation of this, Bach's last work, is daunting), and to be listened to before getting to The Juilliards (recorded in 1987, released in '92 on cd). But both records are really excellent!

It's hard to express in words the emotional connection this recording makes. The extraordinary playing by the Emerson on this CD makes these works by Bach come alive in a way like I've never heard before. This is a moving and poetic recording, and you'll swear you can hear oboes and trumpets coming from only four string instruments. What can I say, I was completely blown away by this truly sublime and perfect recording. Emerson Quartet is just amazing.

Here we have yet another wonderful recording from the Emerson

String Quartet. This time they bring their unique performing

feel to the music of J.S. Bach in one of his final expressions

of music "The Art of Fugue". Most performances of this work have

what can only be described as a totally intellectual feel to

them, this recording is quite different in the fact that the

Emersons bring a feeling of humanity to the work. The final piece

performed as a close to the work is the Chorale "Before Thy

throne do I come now." BWV 668a is one of Bach's final thoughts

It is a fitting close to this work, which is a fitting close to

Bach's musical life. The recording done by Deutsche Grammaphon

is warm, intimate, yet with just enough feel of the room to keep

it from sounding "boxy" Hearing this work in a chamber setting

helps the listener follow the various paths and trails that Bach

put together to show us his little garden or park where we can

imagine following him around as he shows us the way. Bach's music

can be quite an adventure of exploration, The Art of Fugue is his

map to perhaps what has been called "The Undiscovered Country".

I suggest getting this CD and making the journey with him as

often as possible. Is this recording the last word on the

subject? No, but it is one of the finest ones to come along in a

long time. Highly recommended.

In a catalogue flooded with realizations of "The Art of Fugue" on every keyboard instrument and for every other ensemble imaginable, including saxophone quartet, did we really need another string quartet version? For myself, I will be sending my other string quartet recordings of these pieces to the resale bin. The Emersons bring to this music, as they bring to Beethoven, Shostakovich, Webern, and Bartók (or anything else they touch), a quality in which they really do exceed the possible sum of their parts: impeccable technical skills, agile intelligence, warm heart, infectious energy, and a breathtaking sense of ensemble. Each individual voice breathes with an independence rarely achieved in performance of this work, and yet each seems somehow utterly inseparable from the others. Definitely a performance to shelve with the keepers - just like any other recording by this remarkable band of musical brothers.

Bach wrote this encyclopedic anthology of fugal technique as a theoretical exercise, not a concert work; indeed, he never so much as specified the instrumentation of these compositions. But you'd never guess that on the basis of these performances by the Emerson String Quartet. They imbue the album with an unflagging emotive engagement and continually mounting intensity sufficient to make the collection work as an extended suite --- it almost seems to have a coherent, dramatic formal construction, as played here. The Emersons are able to heat things up a bit with each successive fugue (especially after they're through the first ten, which are much more similar to one another than the ones that follow them), so that The Art of the Fugue comes off as much more than just a collection of loosely related contrapuntal etudes.

Furthermore the recorded sound and playing of the Emersons are magnificent. What sumptuous tone! What extraordinary resonance! This quartet is a well-oiled machine indeed.

I play both the trumpet and the viola; but the viola came much later, and my first experience of these fugues was with the Canadian Brass' album (for which, significantly, Glenn Gould served as mentor and artistic guide). But there's simply no comparison between the two discs. The Emerson String Quartet make three times as much out of these pieces.

This is some of the most beautiful music ever written, and the performances on this CD are a real gift. You can take it on any level, listen to the horizontal layers of music traveling across time, or keep it in the background and tune to just the vertical layers of harmony at any one moment, a perfect sudoku of composition. I love Beethoven, but Beethoven requires too much attention to put on as background music. Good Bach can function as background music, elevating and propelling without interfering, but you can also listen more intensely if you'd like, allowing it to fully absorb.

This is as powerful as anything Bach's written. I appreciate that there is some controversy around this music, some uncertainty as to how Bach intended it to be played (the instrumentation, whether it was meant for performance or exercise), but after hearing the Emerson String Quartet play it to near perfection, I don't want to even picture it sounding any differently. The Emerson String Quartet brings a level of mastery to everything I've heard them play, with each instrumentalist animatedly distinguishing his part but without sacrificing the subtle balance that gives coherency to the full expressive range. It's something special when four people can be so tuned to in to each other so as to almost meld their phrasing and harmonies into one voice.

Thumbs up. Buy it, thank me later, hip somebody else.

I've been critical of these guys before so I feel it's only fair to say this is a great recording. I have a number of Emerson String Quartet CD's and hardly listen to them as I think their playing often lacks soul and they can sound like they're competing with each other. For Bach's 'Art of Fuge' this is the one I come back to. The recording is near perfect - you can differentiate each instrument and (in my opinion) it's the best the E.S.Q. has ever sounded.

Do yourself a favor and save some time: BUY THIS ONE NOW! Then read below!

The fugue is one of the most complicated, if not the most complicated, forms of music ever created. J.S. Bach practically invented the fugue, and in the space of one work, "The Art of Fugue," perfected it beyond any comparison. Unquestionably one of the most important artistic creations of all time, "The Art of Fugue" alone could secure Bach his hallowed place in music. The Emerson String Quartet gives us an accurate, authentic, and stunningly beautiful rendering of this masterpiece. The recording is sharp, clear, and captures all the voices in perfect clarity. The ESQ plays with an almost overwhelming amount of emotion. The balance is never less than pristine, with the voices trading themes and subjects off smoothly and effortlessly. Tempi tend to be swift, but this serves to reinforce the effect of the fugues. The notes accompanying the disc are a treasure, with a complete analysis of Contrapunctus I provided. Most impressive are the stretto fugues (V-VII) where voices are constantly overlapping in a streamless flow of sound. Like the Gothic cathedrals that it tends to represent, "The Art of Fugue" simply overwhelms the listener with detail and beauty. Don't miss this one!