Bob Van Asperen – J.S. Bach: Die Kunst der Fuga – The Art of Fugue (2018) [FLAC 24bit/88,2kHz]

No need to dwell on the The Art of Fugue’s one thousand and one secrets, whether real or presumed: let’s just play it, pure and simple. For too long, many considered it had been created more so for the eyes and mind than for the ears, and what a mistake that was! Bob van Asperen proves it once again with his incredibly deep 1741 Christian Zell harpsichord. Van Asperen only plays fourteen of the definite, finalised manuscript’s “contrapuntus”, adding a canon found annotated on the same manuscript, which was itself finalised. The other contrapuntus and canons in The Art of Fugue are drafts at various degrees of revision, and it is known that a monumental triple fugue remained unfinished. As a complement, the harpsichordist had the surprising yet outstanding idea to combine Berhard Klapprott and a second harpsichord to play two mirror fugues from other manuscripts, which require a large number of playing fingers. The sound disparities between both harpsichords help the listener follow Bach’s titanic contrapuntal inventions. It’s clear this music wasn’t intended for the eyes alone…

Tracklist:
1. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus I 04:04
2. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus II 02:56
3. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus III 03:13
4. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus IV 05:48
5. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Canon 2 02:49
6. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus V 03:55
7. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus VI 04:34
8. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus VII 05:31
9. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Canon 3 05:27
10. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus VIII 05:58
11. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus IX 03:00
12. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Canon 4 02:16
13. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus X 05:19
14. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus XI 07:32
15. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Canon 1 04:01
16. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus Inversus 12a 02:33
17. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus Inversus 12b 02:39
18. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Fuga a 2 Clav 14a 02:22
19. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Fuga a 2 Clav 14b 02:40