Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)

The Art of Fugue (BWV 1080)
(Transcription for Viols)



Ensemble:Fretwork


Performers:
Richard Campbell - viola
Julia Hodgson - viola
Wendy Gillespie - viola
William Hunt - viola
Susanna Pell - viola
Richard Boothby - viola





Fretwork is an excellent ensemble and their recording of the Art of Fugue is outstanding. Fretwork's source is the original manuscript and the 1751 edition. The combination of the viols is mesmerizing. The tone is uniform but never dull, the lines weave around each other, the different voices are clear and the result is truly lovely. A remarkable performance that I will return to frequently.


On this CD, Fretwork plays the work with a precision and empathy that are remarkably engaging. The ensemble performs with a suppleness that is ideally suited to the 20 brief movements that comprise the work. On the Contrapunctus 2, they embark on the theme with a heaviness worthy of the Middle Ages, only to evolve - as the theme itself evolves - into elegant and sprightly contrapuntal textures. This sense of nuance and feel are displayed in other movements, notably the Contrapunctus 6 and Canon per Augmentationem in Contrario Motu, in which flowing lines are countered by bass figures of astonishing warmth and grace.


Fretwork's decidedly retro approach to Bach's much-arranged and incessantly fiddled-with unfinished 'last' opus is among the simplest and therefore most effective renditions on disc. This renowned ensemble takes on Bach's somewhat ambiguously scored and variously configured collection of fugues (contrapuncti) and canons and performs them on combinations of viols (six in all). Although the evidence points most strongly to this work being intended for keyboard performance - and indeed it nearly always comes off best when realised this way - Fretwork's viol-consort settings preserve important linear and harmonic balances inherent in a single-instrument rendition while imbuing each movement with the viols' naturally warm, complexly-coloured, reedy timbres. While the more densely-textured movements can lose some definition in places - where the resonance of the lower-register instruments dominates - these performances are more coherent and cohesive and clearly articulated than any of the available versions scored for assortments of wind and strings. Although invariably interesting as exercises and often sonically exciting, these latter 'deconstructive' transcriptions/arrangements have a distracting effect on the listener, calling attention to individual lines rather than to the well-formed unity of the whole.

Fretwork's players deliver nothing less than polished, involving and faithful-to-the-score performances (albeit with their own ordering of movements), ever vigilant to balances and nuances of phrasing. And their trueness to Bach remains constant to the end, where they choose the honoured practice of performing the final 'Fuga a 3 Soggetti' unfinished, leaving the listener in mid-sentence, to abrupt, unsettling silence. The whole effort is supported by full-bodied, vibrant sound with excellent spatial definition among and between instruments. If you want to get to know this intriguing and endlessly fascinating work, this is a perfect place to start; if you're a Bach fan and you don’t have it, get it.


Tracklist:
01. Contrapunctus 1 3:09
02. Contrapunctus 3 2:49
03. Contrapunctus 2 2:39
04. Contrapunctus 4 3:41
05. Canon alla Ottava 4:28
06. Contrapunctus 5 3:32
07. Contrapunctus 6 3:47
08. Contrapunctus 7 3:27
09. Canon alla Duodecima in Contrapunto alla Quinta 4:49
10. Contrapunctus 9 2:25
11. Contrapunctus 10 4:00
12. Canon alla decima [in] Contrapunto alla Terza 4:38
13. Contrapunctus 8 5:30
14. Contrapunctus 11 5:52
15. Contrapunctus 12 rectus 1:56
16. Contrapunctus 12 inversus 2:04
17. Contrapunctus [13] rectus 2:24
18. Contrapunctus [13] inversus 2:20
19. Canon per Augmentationem in Contrario Motu 3:56
20. Fuga a 3 Soggetti 8:28



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