Kenneth Weiss, harpsichord, J. S. Bach, The Art of Fugue, Contrapunctus XIV, unfinished
Вставка
- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- Kenneth Weiss plays the unfinished Contrapunctus XIV from J. S. Bach's Art of Fugue, recorded at home in Paris on 12 May 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. This is the final post of Kenneth Weiss's Art of Fugue on IGTV. This complete recording of the Art of Fugue can also be viewed on UA-cam. Many thanks to @ros3milk for the text presentations at the beginning and end of each of the Contrapuncti and Canons.
(Français en-dessous)
“I started working on the Art of Fugue during the summer of 2019, following an invitation to perform the work with the viol ensemble Phantasm in the Lausanne Bach Festival in November 2020. I rapidly became deeply immersed in the work, almost to the point of obsession. I inevitably returned to it in the isolation of the Covid-19 lockdown, and as it is proving to be a welcome solace, I have decided to share it here.
“On April 21st I heard that Monique Bernat had died the night before. Monique was one of the first people to invite Gustav Leonhardt to perform in France in the early 1970s. She was always very supportive and invited me to perform in the St Guilhem-le-Désert summer music festival on several occasions. I would like to dedicate this recording of The Art of Fugue to her memory.”
Kenneth Weiss
“J’ai commencé à travailler l’Art de la Fugue pendant l’été 2019, après avoir été invité par le Festival Bach de Lausanne pour donner cette oeuvre avec le consort de violes Phantasm en novembre 2020. Très vite, je me suis retrouvé profondément immergé dans celle-ci, presque jusqu’à l'obsession. En isolement pendant le confinement dû au Covid-19, je m’y suis inévitablement replongé et ce fut une telle consolation que j’ai décidé partager cette expérience ici.
“Et puis le 21 avril, j’ai appris la disparition de Monique Bernat. Monique fut la première à inviter Gustav Leonhardt à se produire en France au début des années 70. À mon égard, elle a toujours été encourageante et m’a invité à plusieurs reprises à jouer au Festival d’été de St Guilhem-le-Désert. Je souhaite dédier cet enregistrement à sa mémoire.”
Kenneth Weiss
www.kennethwei...
Oh god! The moment of truth... Thank's forever J.S.Bach and Mr. Kenneth Weiss.
I passed on the message. To Kenneth Weiss, that is !
@@IanMalkin Thank you.
That harpsichord sounds absolutely exquisite. Wonderful performance.
Très heureux de découvrir cette interprétation aussi vivante et généreuse qui aurait pu faire une soirée merveilleuse du festival à la chapelle st Julien de Salinelles.
Amitiés
Daniel
@@daelnifer Merci Daniel. Je fais suivre à Kenny. Il vient de jouer l'art de la fugue à Saintes. J'espère que tu vas bien. À bientôt, Ian
Grand merci pour cet "Art de la générosité" de votre part...
I listen to this every day, just can't get enough of it! Many thanks!
Thanks so much Aorda. I know Kenneth will be honored by your comment
THE limit of all music
Kenneth Weiss and Satirino would like to thank Rose Malkin for the text presentation at the beginning and end of all the pieces in this Art of Fugue Playlist
Very good!
Magnifique entreprise, merci bien. Très beau - enfin, très belle version de l'Art de la Fugue.
Thanks Rodrigo. Kenneth has just recorded the Art of Fugue on the historic Taskin harpsichord belonging to the National Music museum in Lisbon. It will be released on the Paraty label later this year.
@@IanMalkin Thank you for the information.
Many thanks!
That ending is always a shock. How many of your listeners know the story, I wonder?
Yes, one wonders
@callenclarke371. When Bach was alive, it was popular to challenge each other to improvise fugues. One musician started with a fugal exposition, then another continued before the first one took over again, etc, etc, hopefully to the very end. Bach was member number 14 of an association of composers. Some believe that Bach deliberately did not complete himself, but gave it as a compositional challenge to the other members, the other members were to complete.
Indra Hughes has shown that the unfinish fugue ends at bar 239: 2+3+9=14. The number 14 is one of several important numbers in some of Bach’s compositions. The Jews used a symbolic numerical alphabet, Kabbalah: A=1, B=2, C=3, D=4 and so on. Notise that the letters I and J both get the symbolic number 10. so here we go! B=2, A=1, C=3, H=8 - 2+1+3+8=14. Several Contrapunctus in BWV 1080 presents the original 12-tones subject in a variant with 14 tones. The second fugue subject in this unfinish Contrapunctus has 41 tones, so you read 14 backwards. But you can also read the number 41 this way: J. S. BACH becomes 41: J=10, S=17, BACH=14: 10+17+14=41.
Many have present their completion here on UA-cam, me too. But because som problems arise, I realize now that those who claim that Contrapunctus XIV was intended as a triple fugue are probably right.
@@geiryvindeskeland7208good point but I suppose if it was a challenge he wouldn't have written more than 10 minutes worth of music already it would have been more likely if he stopped before that 2nd subject