Bach: The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080 (MacGregor)
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- Опубліковано 14 лип 2024
- For lyricism, warmth, and narrative intelligence I don’t think this recording of The Art of Fugue has been bettered. MacGregor’s concern is always to make each piece uplifting in its own way, and to give each its distinct character: C.1 and C.14 are taken at tempi which make them sing, C.4 is given lots of intimate articulative touches, and the stretti in C.5, usually dramatic, enter with a sense of quiet repose, making the piece luminously mysterious. C.2 and C.6 - the two dotted-rhythm fugues - swing away like there’s no tomorrow: C.2 in particularly is given a kind of jazzy casualness that’s really effective. C.7’s gentle murmuring is perfect prelude to the energetic C.8. C.12, usually dead-serious, has a pompous swagger about it (particularly in the inversus), emphasized by the clashing notes created by the by crossing voices and the use of staccato in the scalar passages. In the 2-keyboard version of C.13 MacGregor opts not to tripletize the semiquavers, generating lots of lovely rhythmic variety. See also the long lines of the Canon at the twelfth, the carefully shaped subject in the Canon at the tenth, and the wonderful articulation in the Canon with following voice inverted and augmented. Another feature of the playing worth mentioning is its fantastic sense of (hard to find the right words for this) harmonic movement - the sequences are uniformly beautiful.
But if there is a single quality of the playing here that’s especially arresting, it’s the narrative drama MacGregor brings to the longer fugues. C.8 is given symphonic treatment, with stark pauses, huge dynamic changes, and expressive changes in tempo. C.11 starts quiet and unmoving and stays that way for a long while, even when the second subject enters - until at 36:10 a very gradual crescendo enters, gathering in strength until at 36:41 a climax is reached and the music fades back into dreaminess again. The whole piece, taken at a relatively slow pace, feels timeless and monumental - the dense chromaticism of the last section, instead of coming across as wild, has a sense of desperation or intense sadness, even as it builds into that heart-stopping climax at 42:40 (in general MacGregor’s got a great way of building into dramatic moments: 14:30, 17:50, 23:18, and so on). And C.14, often forlorn, is now hopeful, rapt.
00:00 - Contrapunctus 1
03:59 - Contrapunctus 2
06:10 - Contrapunctus 3
08:46 - Contrapunctus 4
11:30 - Contrapunctus 5
14:47 - Contrapunctus 6
18:30 - Contrapunctus 7
21:03 - Contrapunctus 8
26:00 - Contrapunctus 9
28:11 - Contrapunctus 10
33:52 - Contrapunctus 11
44:37 - Canon at the octave
48:24 - Canon at the tenth
53:32 - Canon at the twelfth
56:50 - Canon with following voice inverted and augmented
1:00:25 - Contrapunctus 12, rectus [inversus at 1:02:43]
1:05:03 - Contrapunctus 13, rectus [inversus at 1:07:19]
1:09:44 - Contrapunctus 14
1:17:40 - Mirror fugue for Two Keyboards, based on Contrapunctus 13, inversus [rectus at 1:19:54]
![Bach + [Various]: Transcriptions (Weissenberg, Rösel, Bax, Grimaud, Glemser)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/exYK6Wzmh2g/mqdefault.jpg)
![Bach + [Various]: Transcriptions (Weissenberg, Rösel, Bax, Grimaud, Glemser)](/img/tr.png)
Not only he's an incredible fighter but also a master on the piano
interesting analogy.
@@userb025 hes talking about MacGregor the pianist
@@aidankoop2110 But MacGregor is a she (Joanna MacGregor). Legends say that J. S. Bach had a sword fight in the open street because of a disagreement.
@@aidankoop2110 I'd rather not stand in for the commenter. In reality, neither you nor I can. I just found the analogy that came to me interesting. I have no reason from the data given to disregard it.
Really needed: Who Is the pianist ?? Thank you
4:06 that swing lol wasn't expecting this
Jazzy bach
There is one point to take into account and that is that Bach tried to play in the "French style", and it is curious to think that, in fact, the birthplace of Jazz is New Orleans, a former French colony.
July 2024. Who's here? When I listen to music like this, I am grateful I can hear ....
Bach music is for me like 2 spirals that grow together, they touch each other, they talk to each other and they get into fights and hugs sometimes, they get closer and far from each other, they get smaller, and bigger, thicker and thinner, all in the same piece. Fractal emotions. The DNA of western music.
An incisive and perfect analogy, Sir.
@@OldPannonian all yours.🙃
counterpoints :)))
@@OldPannonian fibonacci- is there, a conversation and a relational piece to be sure. Bach was very god fearing, so I imagine a conversation between God and the listener,
thats just a very unhelpful way of describing counterpoint
Bach did not predict the future, Bach did the future.
Bach is the future.
Bach to the Future: “guess you guys aren’t ready for this stuff, but your grandchildren are going to love it !”
@@paulwl3159 That’s almost what happened. After JSB’s death, his music was largely forgotten until Mendelssohn revived the St. Matthew passion in 1829.
@@baldrbraa I visited the Thomas Kirch in Leipzig yesterday. It was shocking to think that the Nazis destroyed a memorial to Mendelssohn, who did so much to bring a true German hero back into the light.
Bach is still known as the best composer of 17th century (or idk century) after 2000 years
"What is the melody?'
Bach: "yes''
Every musical line has its own melody
Do you not know what a fugue is?
@@varunsathya1912 I think they were making a joke my man
😂😂😂😂😂😂
@Charles-Valentin Alkan
Ooh, an Alkan clone. Hi!
"Is the Art of Fugue for study or for playing? This question, still posed by some writers, allows a false choice; The Art of Fugue was meant to be studied by playing it, to have its marvels seen, heard, and felt under one's fingers. Some of the fugues are among Bach's most effective and should take their place in the concert hall, but it is inconceivable that the composer ever intended a complete performance of twenty works in the same key and on the same theme, most of them, too, in the same rhythm. The Art of Fugues was meant to be played over a period of time (which does not in the least detract from its unity). Apparently simple, subtly complex, with the ease of a lifetime's experience in every line, it must, indeed, be played many times before its deceptive lucidity can be penetrated.
The work was never finished; its plan, basically simple, was altered during composition, and the order of the first edition is certainly wrong. Like a gigantic set of variations, each piece is based on the same theme. There are (1) four simple fugues (two on the inversion of the theme); (2) three stretto fugues (the second a French overture in style, and the third with the theme in augmentation, diminution, and at the original speed simultaneously); (3) two double fugues (double counterpoint at the tenth and the twelfth); (4) two triple fugues (the second with the themes of the first inverted); (5) four canons; (6) two sets of 'mirror fugues' (each fugue with its double, which completely inverts every note of each voice); (7) and last, an unfinished quadruple fugue (there was to have been a second quadruple fugue, which was never begun). The final section of this fugue, the combination of the first three themes with the main theme of the work, was still to write; Bach became blind as he finished the third part of the fugue based on the letters of his own name. The manuscript breaks off just as the composer had, in effect, put his signature to the work that was the summation of his art.
The style of The Art of Fugue is that of a counterpoint exercise; the theme is simple, the textures largely unchanging, uncontrasted. There are almost no dramatic effects; the most fantastic modulations take place discreetly, and the sequences are continually varied with a delicacy unparalleled in Baroque music. All the intensity lies in the individual lines, severe and expressive throughout. A few pieces have a more brilliant aspect: the stretto fugue in the French manner, the mirror fugue arranged for two keyboards; but in general, there is a unity of style that Bach never attempted in his other collective works, as if here everything was concentrated on the single details, the subtlety of the accents, the purity of the linear tracery. There is no more deeply moving music." Charles Rosen, Keyboard Music, Edited by Denis Matthews, Pelican, 1972, PP. 98-101.
Angela Hewitt made a similar comment but with respect to the Goldberg Variations. She raised the question of whether Bach had intended for someone to play all of the Goldberg Variations in a single sitting. She implied that one could select a few of the 30 variations to include in a recital.
It's science, meant to be studied by professional musicians and composers. At least Bach saw it that way.
He never intended it to be performed in front of an audience, but it's just too important not to be performed.
In my mind Die Kunst der Fuge is the single most ingenious work in all of music.
absolute nonsense the idea that it is not meant to be played, whoever put that out into the ether should have been thoroughly ashamed. In asking the question yourself you are just a slave to received idiocy. Foe example why did he add an extra part to the second mirror fugue if not intended as a keyboard duet?
I enjoy listening the entire work though. It makes much more sense as a whole. I don't want to pay for selections. Same goes to Goldberg. WTC is fine, but not this one.
Bach was a Pleiadian emissary incarnated here at that time to imbued and radiate specific frequencies to allow the expansion to a higher vibrational timeline. This collection specifically contains these codes.
I have shared this video, along with news of my wife's passing. She was a spry, happy,caring woman. There are many elements to these preludes and fugues that are her.
Not like her. Are her. Here's to Joy Magdalene Clark. RIP.
Sorry for your loss. I hope this music can bring some comfort, at least.
@@AshishXiangyiKumar Thank you. It's Ravel, today.
your music is the best proof that your wife continues to exist after she is dead.
This music portrays the ultimate reality which pervades us without us knowing.
so dont be sad and move on!Shes living a great life out there!
gonna meet among the clouds
My hearfelt condolences. You must be suffering greatly and I wish I could console you more. However, with such a loss that is impossible.
[for mobile users]
00:00 - Contrapunctus 1
03:59 - Contrapunctus 2
06:10 - Contrapunctus 3
08:46 - Contrapunctus 4
11:30 - Contrapunctus 5
14:47 - Contrapunctus 6
18:30 - Contrapunctus 7
21:03 - Contrapunctus 8
26:00 - Contrapunctus 9
28:11 - Contrapunctus 10
33:52 - Contrapunctus 11
44:37 - Canon at the octave
48:24 - Canon at the tenth
53:32 - Canon at the twelfth
56:50 - Canon with following voice inverted and augmented
1:00:25 - Contrapunctus 12, rectus [inversus at 1:02:43]
1:05:03 - Contrapunctus 13, rectus [inversus at 1:07:19]
1:09:44 - Contrapunctus 14
1:17:40 - Mirror fugue for Two Keyboards, based on Contrapunctus 13, inversus [rectus at 1:19:54]
Filthy mobile users.
Raphaël Cadier-Giard mobile users can’t click time stamps in video descriptions. Only comments. Hence the comment with time stamps for mobile users.
What's a punctus? Lol
Thanks dad
@@AgnesRonan crontapunctus is latin for counterpoint
i tried to study while listening, but its nowhere possible, this is astonishing and its beauty cant be described
@@o.s.h.4613 Try Wagner or some other clown
@@Ludwig1625 Wagner a clown come on now
@@Ludwig1625 damn beetho take it easy,
@@Ludwig1625 Piss off.
@Frédéric Chopin And you ass well.
Bach invents Jazz right after introducing the theme of the second fugue (3:55). ❤😂❤😂❤
Via beethoven's scherzo of op. 101?
Yeah that swings!!
Unbelievable MacGregor! a MMA super star and also a pianist in his spare time, no words, its just another level of human being.
All my admiration.
Emm it's not the same person you know that right?
And don't forget his portrayal of Obi-wan Kenobi!
@@cadenzalien4554 yeah but just in case :p
What's MacGregor's first name?
@@theshmoob Joanna
in March 2020, right before the pandemic shut everything down, I got to see Daniil Trifonov perform this for the Schubert Club in St. Paul, Minnesota, and it was absolutely mesmerizing.
Is no one going to talk about how hard fugue 2 swings?
Omigosh -- I came here by accident, via autoplay, after playing the Emerson String Quartet's recording of "The Art of the Fugue" for the umpteenth time. Their collective interpretation of the entire work is etched into my brain. When sis launched into #2, I almost got up and started dancing!
J S Bach was The first jazz musician in history. 😎
Who needs Loussier!
I suspect the swing feeling is somewhat caused by incorrect interpretation. MacGregor plays the dotted rhythm in a 2:1 ratio where it should be 3:1.
@@dzinypinydoroviny It's not necessarily 'wrong', although I agree it is controversial. Since there are no quavers in contrapunctus 2 (it's all dotted quaver-semiquaver) we don't know it's meant to be performed in simple time - Bach often wrote compound time pieces in simple time (some movements of the Brandenburg concertos for example) just cause it's easier. But noone really knows how BWV 1080 is meant to be performed so I think it's right to experiment 🤷♂️
This is one of the greatest miracles of western music. Would Bach nothing else have left behind than this, he would still belong to the greatest composers ever lived.
I love the ridiculous dynamic markings of the editor.
"Would Bach nothing else have left behind than this"
Are you English?
@@vapourmile Obviously not.
@@thomascook9154 I think what you wanted to say is "Had Bach left nothing behind but this, he would still belong to the greatest composers to have ever lived"
You know what that word order sounds really Shakespearean to me...😂
@@Ayo.Ajisafe Well, I'm flattered but it's just bad english. I'm not used to speak or write english.
Putting ads in the middle of Bach's music should be punishable with at least five years in jail...
I got a toilet paper ad.
I see you have been listening to Mozarts requiem..wink wink
@@fredericchopin9001 Is this a reference to Muriel Barbery?
Download free adblocker--immediately. It will save your life--it saved mine.
Actually this has to be effective for all the classic music.
In Contrapunctus 11, the way the rest in the first beat of every measure is passed around from voice to voice makes the music sound like it's actually breathing. Bach took not only fugues, but music itself to new heights before he died.
For me contrapunctus 14 is the greatest piece of music ever composed. The sudden end is like the final Note from god.
I have the same sense
Up there.
I don't think you can determine which piece of music is the greatest. There are hundreds of options, each brilliant in their own way.
@snafing your comment couldn’t be more true because I think I’m right in saying that contrapunctus 14 is unfinished because the master died at this point in the composition. The final 4 notes spell out BACH in the German notation system. Versions of the art of the fugue that have been transposed for full orchestra are also mind blowing.
33:52 - Contrapunctus 11 : Probably the most perfect musical composition ever, "out-of-this world" , revealing Bach's stunning level of consciousness + exceptional interpretation by McGregor, thank you so much. Four dancing voices in perfect harmony, as light as air, dancing and flying in cosmos
It really is incredible! It's in my top three fugues along with Contrapunctus 14 and the opening Kyrie of the B Minor Mass
The more I listen to Contrapunctus 11, the more I agree with you. This is a entire masterpiece in its own. The modulations, the chromaticisms, everything is so great that I think that this is not something we can use words to describe, and that's what I call magic. Once I listened to it in complete dark, at night. It kind of broke through all the barriers of my counsciousness and haunted me for days, maybe weeks.
Contrapunctus 11 recapitulates the previous fugue themes that came before it, too. It's almost a "conclusion" to what's been done, before Bach goes Supernova with the mirror fugues and such.
@@ericlopez6866 It follows the nature of the Contapunctus I theme except rhythmic changes which means the intervals are closer in Contrapunctus XI. I'm sure it's not quite logical and philosophical to refer to the theme as the inversion of one of themes of Contrapunctus VIII which sure is. But one's mind could first come up with the Contrapunctus XI inspired by the lyrical theme of Contrapunctus I. And now that I think about it the inversion of the Contrapunctus XI theme (C.8), following the mathematical model of Contrapunctus IV as opposed to Contrapunctus I as mentioned above can be created/written the same way.
Side note: You can prove that since C.1 and C.4 are symmetrical to each other then variations of them that follow the nature of their themes are also symmetrical which means the one is an inversion of the other. It will remain a mystery as to what flow did Bach write the themes...
JSB ... beginning and end of all
Contrapunctus 4. I never tire of the genius entering my ears.
13:13 I bursted into tears. After all the hardship in my recent life, a voice told me "that there is hope, that there will be light"
Runjie Zhu
You liked a Renaissance moment. Have you listened to Josquin des Prez' masses?
grats for being "deep"
What is ment by fugue for 4 voices????
@@mahmoudtarek9921 It means that the fugue consists of 4 voices, so 4 (independent) melodic lines.
@@SouthParkGermany100 I see that you know about this complicated field. Are you expert in music ?
When the ending of contrapunctus 14 is played like this, i get chills.
If it's any consolation, it's not even the last one composed and Bach just didn't finish it. Nothing exciting at all.
@@talastra CPE Bach's claim that his father died while composing it is doubtful. He probably continued it in on a new sheet that was lost or misplaced by his heirs. Read "Bach's Last Fugue: Unfinished?" and "The Deathbed Chorale: Exposing a Myth" in _Bach: Essays on His Life and Music_ by Christoph Wolff.
@@herrickinman9303 I didn't mean to suggest I thought CPE's story was true. i understood from somewhere that (1) they're not even composed in the order we have and that (2) the unfinished one was just unfinished is all. But it never hurts to have more clarification about this popular myth :)
@@talastra i dont think I care why it ends suddenly or if it was intentional, to me its beautiful. It gave me the same bizarre feeling as the end of Dream Theatre's "Metropolis Pt. 2" album.
@@KyleDB150 Yeah, it's not necessary to "care" about why a piece is the way it is in terms of effects it creates. But it's nice to know the facts anyway, or to debunk romantic/popular falsehoods about them :)
The depth - it never end it just keeps going the never ending spiral of mystery and the nature of reality and yet some how this has taught me more about my own existence than anything that exists in this universe
I hope you will give reading the Bible a try. All of Bach's music flowed out of his relationship with the creator God through his faith in Jesus Christ. Bach signed J.J. at the beginning of every piece - "Jesus help me" - and S.D.G. at the end of every piece - "for the glory of God." While we cannot all express our relationship with God through music in the way Bach can, we all can experience it personally. There is a richness and depth to the Bible that will teach you endlessly about your existence, from the author of your existence himself. God bless.
There is more truth in that statement than any other truth...
@@jimmyd2902 what are you all talking about? It sounds like completelly lunatic.
@@bakuto.1055 first time I agree with an "Oh Yeah Yeah" profile picture.
@@espressonoob I mean, tf are they talking about making up words that don't exist.
Forgive me, I must have nodded off! Revisiting 11, at 33:52 which runs nearly 11 minutes, I'm hearing a stand alone masterpiece, and a performance worthy of receiving an award (and multiple replays). This music bends and warps (I think it's called chromaticism) like no other piece that I can think of, not merely in order to fulfill compositional and technical ambitions, but to express sensations and feelings that no other form could hold or convey. I think the player employs dynamics very creatively and successfully in this rendition.
Mandem said 'chromaticism'
Not to be rude but chromaticism is just using notes from outside the key. There is a fair amount in AOF though.
Mighty, Mighty Bach. Years of listening and Im still left breathless.
One of life's pleasures is simply listening to Bach!😍
Tis true…..
It’s a monumental privilege
MusicClasica. Life's pleasure? No. LIFE'S JUSTIFICATION
I wouldn't be surprised if JS Bach played an important role in the pioneering of tuning systems for keyboard instruments in his lifetime, he was known to retune some notes while playing Harpsichord music, plus he wrote The Well-Tempered Clavier a collection of works in every musical key.
One of the greatest artistic testaments to humanity's capacity for radiance, wisdom and hope. There's something so special about a fugue, and as soon as Bach introduces the first subject of C1, like the seeds of great trees, you know you're in for something special.
While a monument to fatality
Wow. How is it even possible to play this? There’s so much nuance and almost an absurd amount of beauty, spiraling ever inward and outward. How does a single person ensure each voice is properly heard while still crafting a unified whole out of the set of voices? Bach is a figure in history whom I will be unable to understand until I meet him in heaven. Soli Deo Gloria.
Currently trying to play con.11 help
@@helen1352 YOU GOT THIS HELEN!!🤗
Just play it on harpsichord or organ, like intended. That way every key has a set volume, and the architecture of the counterpoint basically does the voicing for you.
Remember that the predominant keyboard instruments allowed for limited user input when it came to deliberate voicing. Bringing out specific voices was done partially through articulation, but mostly was done through the part-writing itself.
What a beautiful comment!
@@InnasWorld Thank you :) I believe one day Bach and I will sing for God together in heaven with the multitudes!
Joanna MacGregor's version of BWV 1080 indeed is absolutely extraordinary. And regarding Contrapunctus 11, she is the only one who plays this wonderful and strange composition slowly enough for one to appreciate what is going on here. It could be played still slower. I am still waiting for a version with a full symphonic orchestra of this piece of truly "cosmic" proportions.
Have you tried Karl Ristenparts?
His 8 and 11 are particularly good
@@llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogeryc...Have to check him again. He's excellent.
Was there ever a greater musical genius than Bach? His music builds worlds and captures the indescribable and the infinite
I studied for a long time, in 70 years, at a music school, played / Well-Tempered Clavier / Bach ...
Ms MacGregor is a phenomenal pianist and musician - personally speaking I would have preferred the piece to end where Bachs' score leaves off, it's so mysterious.
So lyrical, she brings the music alive and makes it speak.
^
Umm.....
He is a guy!
@@Prod.Protonic no
@@bakuto.1055 oh, I thought he was talking about Bach
Lol
@@Prod.Protonic Oof!
Much has been made of the goldberg and rightly so but this is actually the pinnacle of all piano music
Nah
There could never be one pinnacle due to the amount of subgenres, composers, styles, preferences, etc... BUT... you make a good point, and I think if we're required to choose ONE work at gunpoint, this is a great candidate!
I would add the Hammerklavier Sonata and Rzewski's variations in d minor ("El Pueblo Unido...") along with Die Kunst der Fuge for the top 3 solo keyboard works of all time, if we're considering counterpoint as the main focus.
Otherwise, you have to make room for works such as Prokofiev Sonata No. 8, Chopin Ballade No. 4, the Barber Sonata, etc., which are masterworks for other reasons in addition to counterpoint (such as thematic manipulation, innovative structure, rhythmic counterpoint, harmonic innovation, hexachordal combinatoriality, etc.).
@@XavierMacX Liszt Sonata is also a good candidate i think
wellllll this wasn't composed specifically for piano, I'd just say it's a pinnacle of music!
I think you meant harpschord, the greatest instrument after the organ.
The pianist is Joanna MacGregor (born 1959 in London). She is a british pianist and is among other leader for piano playing at the Royal Academy of Music, and professor at the University of London. From my understanding she is especially known for her playing of Bach. The album which we are listening to here was published in 2015 by ℗ SoundCircus.
Therapist: “Jazz Bach doesn’t exist, he can’t hurt you.”
Jazz Bach: 3:59
Not really that jazz, but similiar
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thank you very very interesting
Why is it that Bach and Beethoven had Jazz like elements in their late works? Beethoven's Piano Sonata 32 is another example.
@@windmillwilly I regretted when I oppened ur message lol
I tried to play this myself and failed miserably.
Fugue you, Bach!
this is much harder than it sounds like all of bach's music
All Bach is tricky, even easy Bach is more difficult than your average easy repertoire. The Art of the Fugue is THE most difficult collection of pieces in all Bach's repertoire, probably more difficult than the Goldberg Variations. So don't feel bad!
@@francianeulaf3938 yes yes!! even his most simple pieces are not Easy!! Bach's music to me has always been on another level to other composers. Whatever the right is doing the left hand will be doing and more so ;)
LOL!
@@sean8470 bach has more sincerity and more musicality so the interpretation side of things is harder
I never tire of this set - I've listened to it so many times, and this is such a brilliant performance.
This is the best performance for keyboard solo of BWV 1080 I ever heard. Especially noteworthy is MacGregor's rendition of Contrapunctus XI, an extraordinary composition which usually is played way to fast. I believe that the definite rendition of Contrapunctus XI has to be done with a registration much more "symphonic" than even the piano forte. MacGregor's rendition of this piece is the best possible on the acoustic piano.
Bach simply makes me feel full of life . . .
*personal favourites:*
00:00 I
03:59 II
06:10 III
08:46 IV
21:03 VIII
26:00 IX
1:09:44 XIV
@@khanhminhlequang9985 What do you mean? I guess you're technically right since they're all in a minor key, d-minor namely.
@Jacob H ahahhah You're absolutely right. I'm truly sorry for my bias among these pieces. lmao
(Remark: Someone called me out for only liking pieces in minor keys lol)
schizophrenia
@@j.epstein7723 Yeah it really looks that way lol
The sudden stop in the final fugue still gets me
This is the best comments section I have seen on UA-cam, fitting for this great recording
What a magnificent music, interpreted with an extreme sensitivity and incredible art. The Art of fugue could only be composed by the greatest musician who has ever existed in this true art. Bach is undoubtedly an amazing composer in counterpoint. As I mentioned, the pianist delights us with the elegance with which he plays each of the themes, often giving it characteristics specific to his own sensitivity. Is admirable and extraordinary the technique that he employs. I consider the best interpretation I have heard of these themes to date. Bravissimo for the divine recording.
And then, JS Bach just DIED. It's sooo epic! I had tears of joy in the end. Best composer ever! And great comment section here :)
This is my favourite video on UA-cam and my favourite Art of Fugue recording. Bach is a miracle.
Love the way Bach crafts his music to such percussion. Painting beautiful pictures with musical notes!
The performance of such a piece of music inevitably brings me the idea of the Ultimate Creator. It never fails.
Can we all agree that JS Bach was one of the most if not the most phenomenal composer of all time? It's just so amazing from my point of view. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like this. So grateful to be able to listen to all of these amazing piece. Thank you
@@Reiman33 Yes. I prefer the way Glen Gould plays it though. ua-cam.com/video/hAwgP7wpCYM/v-deo.html
Most people already regard him as the best composer
there’s a joke amongst many musicians in which someone is asked who is your favorite composer. A list of various composers are replied and then they are asked what about Bach. The musician replies oh I just assumed the question meant all great composers except Bach because it’s so obvious that he’s the greatest.
@@NoreenHoltzen Excellent! Thanks for the laugh 😄
Amen!
I’m glad you posted this beautiful work. I’m so suffused with Gould’s interpretation of this I still expect to hear him humming the melodies. This pianist is very good :)
unbelievable break near the end of the first fugue; wonderful
Remarquable interprétation par un pianiste au toucher plein de nuances, très respectueux du style ,et avec une approche toute intérieure. Bref , un grand moment
In the slower more intimate passages the notes don't seem to be hit by felt hammers, but tapped by delicate fingertips, angelical ones.
Damn the fact that Bach died after finish composing the theme with his name is like signing an autograph in the end of this masterpiece
Except he died 8 years later🎉
@@Claude_van what, did you expect him to die before signing his name
@@Eliza-yd7fi Your word thinking is just a simulation of thinking, bot.
Doesn't get any better than that.
'French Style' is another way of saying "Jazz".. lovely, fun piece..
What's is Jazz? I mean definitely.
Revelatory. Feel so blessed to have this on UA-cam.....thank you.
I think I actually lost my sh*t at 5:23. I mean, how could someone of his era come up with something as radical as that short progression? Honestly astonishing.
Pfft musical terms. You have to remember that this guy was the greatest composer of any period, probably.
@@Ludwig1625 I'd argue that you are, but yeah, he's f-ing awesome.
Bach: *ya like j a z z?*
@@Ludwig1625 no lol
@@Ludwig1625 no lol
You are spot on, she has done something pretty extraordinary here--made out of the Art of Fugue a series o character pieces without damaging the integrity of the piece as a whole.
13:17 and 13:45 these parts are so beautiful!
I love the fifth fugue! Those are my favorite moments from that fugue as well - along with 12:20-12:35!
@@jr1648 oh yes! I love how the three voices imitate each other down to the bass and end up in major. This is sublime
Beautiful performance. Good to hear the various entries of the theme so clearly.
Very little do we talk about the major influence of African drumming rhythm on Bach. That is where he got lots of his cross rhythms between the left and right hand from.
Wonderful Work from Bach . Many Thanks for to share this
Your recording selections are always spot on. Plus the accompanying sheet music is a gift.
That point of arrival in a musician's life where they need nothing more than "The Art of Fugue" - it is to understand that all things are born of one another, and even that it should have remained a work incomplete speaks to my completeness; to this world within a world without end in which we all live, as does the soul transcend itself to address Eternity. I am there now, and inasmuch as I feel I have in some way always been there, this place of undivided awareness our one deity's own dream, there can be no turning back from the very wonder that is this music by J S Bach, at least not for me not ever now! And so it is, that my gratitude itself has gravitas, the grace of God in its passing; the face of Divine Faith everlasting.
Best music I have ever heard . Words fail me....
As you listen to this, your brain gets bigger and the synapses are recharged
Jaw dropping performance, thank you for the upload.
This is wonderful, thank you !
Wonderful! As an organist, my favorite is XI.
Thank you for separating these so that we can go directly to what we wish.
What stops do you use for Contrapunctus XI?
Joanna MacGregor has a exceptionally fine rendition of the French Suites on UA-cam. It's on a par with this performance, and, given the inherent differences between the two pieces, even more beautiful and enjoyable (to my ears).
I have Charles Rosen's version of this which I love and consider to be a great performance (it sounds better on the original LPs IMHO by the way; the CD didn't get the sound right). These performances by Joanna MacGregor are on the similar level - and are very beautiful. She lets the music speak for itself.
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for posting this. It is important
hahahaha i just love this tiny little progression at abt 5:22 where the alto and tenor voice move in parallel minor thirds, outlining the #7 + b6 and right after the natural 6 + #4 over a G pedal, and on top of that the soprano voice moves in parallel and homophonically to both of these voices, but just by a half step, essentially resulting in Ebm - A over G, which is pretty wonky and basically blues with the rhythm and all.
Edit: 6:48 gdi why is bach so smooth hahaha
Thank you SO MUCH for this post. Love this performance. Always hard to know how much pedal to use with Bach. Too little and the notes are choked off, making the music hard and cold. Too much and the voices get mushed. together. To me this performance is a good balance--the sonorities sing but yet the notes are clearly articulated. (You need extra technique to carry that off.) A joy.
@Erik Burgerhagen never allowed? What were You in jail? Did You smash your teacher to death with a guitar?
Das ist eine ganz herausragende Interpretation! Die wohl beste, die ich überhaupt kenne (musikalisch auch besser als Glenn Gould). Die Pianistin Joanna MacGregor ist für mich eine echte Entdeckung.
une interprétation très dépouillée - magnifique - c'est cela Bach - brava Joanna !
Il più grande genio che l’umanità abbia conosciuto
The D4 at 0:24 is so beautiful in setting up a little momentum for the music... like the F4 in bar 13 of Chopin's Berceuse...
Un long et généreux effort vers la parole, ce moment plus magique et surtout plus doux qu'elle, quand dire frôle sans advenir
Outstanding performance of a great work.
1:19:10 this whole passage just birthed the entirety of Beethoven, Chopin and pretty much everyone else. What a wonder.
Its been yeats and I still come back here.
The Contrapuntos are the height of Western music. And music is the artform that captures the Western ideal of Infinite space. To listen to this is to comprehend how an entire civilization conceptualizes reality, to feel the souls of the multitudes that have gone, and the dreams of the multitudes that live today.
Im not the biggest fan of baroque music, but one cant deny that bach was an amazing composer.
Arber. There is baroque and there is bach. I believe bach wasn't a baroque composer but a composer of all centuries his use of modulation and the chromatic scales is beyond his time.
@@benkebret8363 The contrapuntus 11 feels like a schoenberg or webern composition. It feels wrong to consider it Baroque.
Russell Alson all of it was dedicated to god lol, especially his masses, cantatas, passions oratorios, Magnificat, etc. He was a very religious man.
Bach can't be limited to any genre; he transcends time and space.
Korewa I agree. Although Bach composed some of the greatest "Baroque-sounding" pieces and was of the Baroque era, the Art of Fugue is in a category all its own. It's like he got down to business to show music composition at its highest level. In just a few passages you can sense the "baroqueness", but in general it's like a mathematical study of music.
So beautiful
Merci de nous avoir donné de suivre l œuvre avec la partition..je n avais écouté que la première fugue, la suite est une prouesse pour ce pianiste remarquable
This is a jewel and a lesson of life. TY.
I'm discovering this interpretation... and despite it's not perfect, I like it. A lot...
Fabuloso! 👏🎶🎹 de otro mundo
Great sound quality. I love Bach fugues. Thank you. x
breathtaking harmonies
My life is complete.
first I read "my wife is complete"
but I guess that is also ok
This thing is meaning of the life
Beautiful.
This work of genius continues to baffle and delight the world of music
the haunting ending to contrapunctus 14 is scary to think about
16:01 sounds just like Mozart`s Rex tremendae, from his Requiem in D minor.
yeah
Other way around
YES! :O :D
Oh wow...
Mozart seemed to turn to the baroque in his late years, his requiem and the 40th and 41st symphonies from what I've listened to are evidence. I recommend the finale of the 41st, absolute genius.
While he doesn’t amaze me the same way as Chopin or Rachmaninoff (I prefer romantic/early 20th century music), I can never listen to Bach and not think, “Wow, the amount of incredible musical complexity and required dexterity is baffling.” This whole piece of music is absolutely incredible 😼
I am amazed more by bach personally, but in a different way. The virtuosity and romance(it is called the romantic era) of romantic composers is unparralled, but the contrapuntal genius and upper-classness(I dont know a better word) of bach, no one has gotten close to replicating it.
@@Terry-nr5qn Bach is one of the greatest creators in all of art. I admire your romantics (don't forget Scriabin) but I can get tired of them. I never tire of Bach
😼
Chopin would tell you that he was didn't even come close to Bach's harmonic complexity and still.
hahahah that cat emoji was beyond
Sublime! Thank you Ashish!!!
contrapunctus 9 is ... out of this world, my favorite