Die Kunst der Fuge BWV 1080
19 tracks - Mp3 160 - RAR 104 Mb - Covers+info
Oliver Boekhoorn, oboe, oboe d'amore, english horn
Raaf Hekkema, soprano & alto saxophone
Ivar Berix, B flat & E flat clarinet
Jelte Althuis, basset horn & bass clarinet
Alban Wesly, bassoon
Calefax Reed Quintet
2000 MDG Scene
19 tracks - Mp3 160 - RAR 104 Mb - Covers+info
Oliver Boekhoorn, oboe, oboe d'amore, english horn
Raaf Hekkema, soprano & alto saxophone
Ivar Berix, B flat & E flat clarinet
Jelte Althuis, basset horn & bass clarinet
Alban Wesly, bassoon
Calefax Reed Quintet
2000 MDG Scene
Bach Rid of His Wig
by Ivar Berix
Notes on The Art of Fugue
Since its founding in 1985 Calefax has occupied itself more intensively with Johann Sebastian Bach's The Art of Fugue than with any other composition. Raaf Hekkema began with a first arrangement in 1990, we began playing smaller selections in 1994, en in 1999 we were able to perform a complete version. During all these years The Art of Fugue has become increasingly dear to our hearts. We have become acquainted with this work step by step and learned how to play it better in close contact with it. In addition, we have varied the instrumentation repeatedly so that at present the five musicians employ a total of ten instruments.
Recently in particular, however, it has also become clear to us that The Art of Fugue is indeed a very sensitive composition. It is not without reason that it has continued to be the subject of new discussion among musicians and musicologists. A great many still unsolved riddles surround the work. Here we would only like to mention a few of these questions. Why did Bach not prescribe an instrumentation and what significance does this have? What is the proper order of the parts? Should one adapt the part writing in an ensemble performance? Should one follow the first edition or the manuscript? Why did the Contrapunctus XIV remain unfinished? Can one even perform an unfinished work? If yes, how should one deal with such an abrupt ending? Was The Art of Fugue intended for practical performance? Or was it perhaps instead a theoretical (learning) piece concerning counterpoint? Our occupation with these and many other (still unresolved) questions was very productive for us. We sometimes also felt the danger that the performance of this music was becoming a less spontaneous, almost theoretical matter.
Our encounter with Contrapunctus XIV by the Dutch artist Pascal Möhlmann was therefore a relieving experience. In this painting one sees Bach before a background of fourteen golden stripes. The expression on his face suggests very attentive listening or observing. The piece of paper that he is holding in his right hand contains the fragment of a musical score and represents one possible ending of the unfinished Contrapunctus XIV. When we consider Bach himself, we notice at second glance that he has finally taken off his wig 250 years after the Hausmann portrait. We see a human being! A somewhat corpulent man with a stubble beard who outdid most of his genial colleagues as a musician. The human quality revealed to us for a moment in this portrait increased our desire not to continue to spin Bach into his own mystical web. We simply want to play his music and, if necessary, to adapt his music to the instruments available to us, just as he adapted his music to the instruments available to him. Respect need not mean keeping one's distance. What one wants to view respectfully from close up is something that one can take one's time to absorb into oneself. What one regards with tender esteem brings with it an invitation to pleasure. After all, the best baker in town has a practical goal in mind, namely that people eat his bread.
www.goldberg-magazine.com
Igor Kipnis
Aunque la supuesta "última obra" de Bach sigue siendo todavía objeto de controversia en varios aspectos, como el del orden ideal de las piezas, la mayoría de los musicólogos especializados en Bach están de acuerdo en que, por lo que respecta a la instrumentación, el medio recomendado es un instrumento de tecla. Sin embargo, desde el punto de vista del color, la variedad tímbrica y la claridad de las partes, es comprensible que hayan sido tantos los intérpretes que han optado por plantillas diversas que recorren toda la gama posible, desde dos instrumentos (como un dúo de pianos) hasta un tratamiento para cuerdas u orquesta completa, pasando por conjuntos de flautas dulces, cuartetos de cuerda o de saxofón y bandas. Aunque ha habido ya conjuntos instrumentales mixtos, sobre todo del siglo XVIII, esta interpretación es quizás la primera que incluye una combinación de instrumentos antiguos y modernos, en este caso oboe, oboe d'amore, corno inglés, saxofones soprano y alto, en si bemol y mi bemol, y clarinetes bajos, corno di basetto y fagot, todos ellos instrumentos de lengüeta.
Es muy interesante oír cómo los cinco músicos se conjuntan para producir con sus instrumentos un sonido muy convincente que consigue diferencias más eficaces que, por ejemplo, un grupo de cuerdas moderno. Una de las razones de este resultado es, quizá, la articulación más definida de los timbres de las maderas y la claridad resultante en las voces. El orden de los contenidos es razonable: cada uno de los cánones a dos partes aparece intercalado entre los diversos grupos de fugas. El trabajo se completa con la fuga final (inacabada, pero concluida con el coral habitual). Desde un punto de vista estilístico, mi versión preferida del Arte de la fuga con varios instrumentos sigue siendo el CD bastante reciente de Concerto Italiano y Rinaldo Alesandrini en Opus 111. Pero vale la pena escuchar esta nueva interpretación por su fuerte expresividad y su claridad textural.
by Ivar Berix
Notes on The Art of Fugue
Since its founding in 1985 Calefax has occupied itself more intensively with Johann Sebastian Bach's The Art of Fugue than with any other composition. Raaf Hekkema began with a first arrangement in 1990, we began playing smaller selections in 1994, en in 1999 we were able to perform a complete version. During all these years The Art of Fugue has become increasingly dear to our hearts. We have become acquainted with this work step by step and learned how to play it better in close contact with it. In addition, we have varied the instrumentation repeatedly so that at present the five musicians employ a total of ten instruments.
Recently in particular, however, it has also become clear to us that The Art of Fugue is indeed a very sensitive composition. It is not without reason that it has continued to be the subject of new discussion among musicians and musicologists. A great many still unsolved riddles surround the work. Here we would only like to mention a few of these questions. Why did Bach not prescribe an instrumentation and what significance does this have? What is the proper order of the parts? Should one adapt the part writing in an ensemble performance? Should one follow the first edition or the manuscript? Why did the Contrapunctus XIV remain unfinished? Can one even perform an unfinished work? If yes, how should one deal with such an abrupt ending? Was The Art of Fugue intended for practical performance? Or was it perhaps instead a theoretical (learning) piece concerning counterpoint? Our occupation with these and many other (still unresolved) questions was very productive for us. We sometimes also felt the danger that the performance of this music was becoming a less spontaneous, almost theoretical matter.
Our encounter with Contrapunctus XIV by the Dutch artist Pascal Möhlmann was therefore a relieving experience. In this painting one sees Bach before a background of fourteen golden stripes. The expression on his face suggests very attentive listening or observing. The piece of paper that he is holding in his right hand contains the fragment of a musical score and represents one possible ending of the unfinished Contrapunctus XIV. When we consider Bach himself, we notice at second glance that he has finally taken off his wig 250 years after the Hausmann portrait. We see a human being! A somewhat corpulent man with a stubble beard who outdid most of his genial colleagues as a musician. The human quality revealed to us for a moment in this portrait increased our desire not to continue to spin Bach into his own mystical web. We simply want to play his music and, if necessary, to adapt his music to the instruments available to us, just as he adapted his music to the instruments available to him. Respect need not mean keeping one's distance. What one wants to view respectfully from close up is something that one can take one's time to absorb into oneself. What one regards with tender esteem brings with it an invitation to pleasure. After all, the best baker in town has a practical goal in mind, namely that people eat his bread.
***
www.goldberg-magazine.com
Igor Kipnis
Aunque la supuesta "última obra" de Bach sigue siendo todavía objeto de controversia en varios aspectos, como el del orden ideal de las piezas, la mayoría de los musicólogos especializados en Bach están de acuerdo en que, por lo que respecta a la instrumentación, el medio recomendado es un instrumento de tecla. Sin embargo, desde el punto de vista del color, la variedad tímbrica y la claridad de las partes, es comprensible que hayan sido tantos los intérpretes que han optado por plantillas diversas que recorren toda la gama posible, desde dos instrumentos (como un dúo de pianos) hasta un tratamiento para cuerdas u orquesta completa, pasando por conjuntos de flautas dulces, cuartetos de cuerda o de saxofón y bandas. Aunque ha habido ya conjuntos instrumentales mixtos, sobre todo del siglo XVIII, esta interpretación es quizás la primera que incluye una combinación de instrumentos antiguos y modernos, en este caso oboe, oboe d'amore, corno inglés, saxofones soprano y alto, en si bemol y mi bemol, y clarinetes bajos, corno di basetto y fagot, todos ellos instrumentos de lengüeta.
Es muy interesante oír cómo los cinco músicos se conjuntan para producir con sus instrumentos un sonido muy convincente que consigue diferencias más eficaces que, por ejemplo, un grupo de cuerdas moderno. Una de las razones de este resultado es, quizá, la articulación más definida de los timbres de las maderas y la claridad resultante en las voces. El orden de los contenidos es razonable: cada uno de los cánones a dos partes aparece intercalado entre los diversos grupos de fugas. El trabajo se completa con la fuga final (inacabada, pero concluida con el coral habitual). Desde un punto de vista estilístico, mi versión preferida del Arte de la fuga con varios instrumentos sigue siendo el CD bastante reciente de Concerto Italiano y Rinaldo Alesandrini en Opus 111. Pero vale la pena escuchar esta nueva interpretación por su fuerte expresividad y su claridad textural.
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