The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080 by Johann Sebastian Bach Performer: Ferenc Rados (Piano), Zoltán Kocsis (Piano) Period: Baroque Written: circa 1745-1750; Leipzig, Germany Date of Recording: 09/1984 Venue: Liszt Academy, Budapest Length: 100 Minutes 7 Secs. Although Bach possibly never imagined that The Art of Fugue (his last major work, and supposedly left unfinished at his death in 1750) would ever be played as a concert piece in its entirety—as opposed to being studied as a contrapuntal treat ise (he wrote it out in open score, with no indications as to instrumentation, except in one of its 19 movements)—it can perfectly well be played on the keyboard and inasmuch as it was performed at all until 50 or so years ago, it was as a keyboard work. Since the first performance, in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig in 1927, of Wolfgang Graeser's 'orchestrated' version, the tendency has been for the work to be performed (and, particularly, recorded) in arrangements for instrumental ensembles of various constitutions and of varying degrees of closeness to the sort of sound that Bach would have been used to. Some of these arrangements achieve their desired effect in making the strands of Bach's complex counterpoint clearly distinguishable. However, organists and harpsichordists might justifiably contend that their instruments are equally capable in this respect, in view of the repertory bequeathed to them; and much as I have been impressed by some arrangements, I find that it is when played on a single keyboard instrument that The Art of Fugue makes its greatest impact, whether on the organ (as in Helmut Walcha's recording on the Schnitger organ in the St Laurenskerk at Alkmaar on Archiv Produktion SAPMI98006/7, 11/60—nla), or on the harpsichord (as in Gustav Leonhardt's recording on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi—IC 165 99793/4, 10/79—which, for me, is still the definitive interpretation of this monumental work). This new version by the greatly-gifted young Hungarian pianist Zoltan Kocsis, again vindicates the contention that The Art of Fugue makes its best effect as a keyboard work, even if on a modern piano. For Kocsis Bach's intellectual and technical demands seem to pose no problems: his exposition of the polyphonic conversation, whether, two, three or four participants are involved, is always admirably lucid and enables each voice to have its say. This is no doubt helped by the rather dry quality of the Hungaroton/ Philips recording on LP (the CD is appreciably fuller and brighter), and by Kocsis's very discreet use of the sustaining pedal (Tovey, editing the work for the piano in 1931, wrote that "polyphonic pianoforte playing . . . demands a quiet hand, constant practice in gliding with the little fingers in both hands, a loose wrist, and no reliance on pedalling as a substitute for legato. But this does not imply that the pedal is forbidden. First catch your legato. Then cook it according to taste."). He is refreshingly lively and lightfingered in Contrapunctus 3, 4, 8 and 9 and appropriately dignified in Contrapunctus 10 and 11, to mention a handful of examples. Unlike Leonhardt (who believes that it does not belong to The Art of Fugue) he plays the incomplete Contrapunctus 14. However, he places it at the end of the three- and four-part fugues and before the various canons, which he appends as a sort of coda, including among these an earlier and much more substantial version of Contrapunctus 18 (in augmentational canon at the lower fourth) not listed in Schmieder's Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis published in 1950. The performance is effectively rounded off with Contrapunctus 19, specifically written for two keyboard instruments, in which Kocsis is partnered by Ferenc Rados. -- Gramophone [1/1986]