Die Hochwsser Der Donau

"This 'Triple Completion' of Johann Sebastian Bach's 'Art of Fugue', performed by the Salzburg Chamber Soloists under Christoph Schlüren for Aldilà Records, is a pioneering enterprise: for the first time the final fugue is presented both in its unfinished original form and in three completions, each of which hypothetically completes the composer's architectonic plan. The first CD presents the eleven consecutive main fugues and the unfinished final fugue with the concluding chorale.

The Art of Fugue , Bach’s final and most quintessential work, while a monument, is far from being a monolith! Here, Les Récréations present a new version using different combinations of instruments that best suit each individual movement, from the piccolo violin to the cello with a detour via the violoncello piccolo; such revelations of the work’s extraordinary variety, from the Stile antico to the beginnings of the Empfindsamer Stil, refresh our perception of this masterpiece.

Jérôme Dhoée (extract from a letter dated 15.4.2023) “… an eminently personal version of the art of the fugue, a true rediscovery of this masterpiece.”

Hans-Eberhard Dentler, a graduate medical physician but also an outstanding cellist and pupil of the renowned Pierre Fournier and founder of a Bach Society in Italy, has occupied himself with this opus over the course of many years. Because he finally wanted to realize Bach's score in a manner true to its spirit and sound, he found a concept for his ensemble „L’Arte della Fuga“ that unifies its more profound scholarly background with practical musical and artistic aspects.

The “Art of the Fugue” is J. S. Bach’s last major work and it represents without any doubt the culmination of his creativity. Bach was involved in its composition in the last 2 years of his life – he was unable however to complete it, as he was forced to stop working, because he lost his vision, whilst composing the last fugue shortly before his death in July 1750. His son Carl Philipp Emanuel wrote the following emotive note on the manuscript of this “quadruple” fugue: “During the composition of this Fugue, and at the point where B-A-C-H appears as a counter-subject, the composer passed away.” We should remind that in the German notation the letter B represents B flat and the letter H represents B natural).

Harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt said that Bach had written his Art of Fugue for himself, without thought of performing it on any instrument in particular. In the presence of a speculative work, every musician is free to chisel the perfect lines of polyphony as he or she chooses. Up to the final canon, which continues to pose the question of its incompletion. It is the Franco-Swiss pianist Cédric Pescia, with his subtle, understated playing, who will make this sublime score sing. But he will do so on an untempered piano, which is hardly banal! After a first æon disc devoted to Cage, which created a tremendous stir, Cédric Pescia deploys a low-key art in Bach, a sense of rhythm combined with a rubato of extreme subtlety and an inventiveness in the phrasings and ornaments, both flowing and sharp, that have no equivalent in the discography. Such relief, such life!