I cannot recall a time when so many recordings of Bach's The Art of Fugue were currently available. As some readers of these columns will know, I have frequently defended the right of performers to choose what kind of instrumental approach to adopt in this musically profound and scientific work. We can be fairly, though not absolutely sure that Bach himself intended it to be a solo keyboard work and this has been ably and convincingly demonstrated, for example, by Gustav Leonhardt (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / EMI) and Davitt Moroney (Harmonia Mundi), both playing solo harpsichord in their respective recordings, and by Herbert Tachezi (Teldec / ASV) who prefers an organ. All these versions are presently in the UK catalogue. Then, on the other hand, there is the chamber ensemble school of thought favoured by many since the Swiss musician, Wolfgang Graeser published his edition of the work for various instrumental combinations in 1926. Few, if any performers, nowadays follow Graeser's scheme to the letter but he and Hermann Scherchen after him have certainly played a part in revealing the potential effectiveness of performing The Art of Fugue in this way. Karl Munchinger made a fine recording of it for Decca (nla) with members of his Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra in the mid 1960s. More recently, Reinhard Goebel has imaginatively performed it with a small ensemble of strings and harpsichords (Archiv Produktion), another version with Max Pommer and members of the Leipzig New Bach Collegium Musicum (Capriccio / Target) uses all manner of instruments—members both of the viol and violin family as well as woodwind—in my opinion, to no useful end.
The new recording from Hesperion XX, under Jordi Savall's direction, is something different again, for while he favours the chamber ensemble approach his instrumentation is confined to a consort of viols—treble, alto, tenor and bass—with additional colour provided by a cornett, trombone, oboe da caccia and bassoon. Why not? All these different approaches to Bach's score indicate that The Art of Fugue is recognized now more than ever before as a peak in the spectrum of Western music and not merely on theoretical and scientific grounds as used to be so once upon a time, but also for its 'affect', its ability to move the passions these are considerations which appear to be uppermost in the performances by Hesperion XX. Emphasis is placed on tonal variety in which, as Savall himself remarks, the instrumentation is determined on the one hand by formal criteria, such as that of highlighting the counterpoint, and on the other by the characteristics and technical possibilities of the instruments themselves. By and large these artists achieve their aims successfully. I am in no doubt at all that such an approach gives a newcomer to this extremely complex music a much clearer idea of what is going on and, perhaps too, enables him to respond with greater immediacy to its affective content. Ultimately, however, it may well be that a keyboard performance unlocks the greater number of secrets, thus offering the listener deeper satisfaction
The level of executancy by the members of Hesperion XX is high. With names like Christophe Coin, Bruce Dickey and Savall himself, we need hardly, perhaps, question that. Sometimes I wondered if the particular colours of the ensemble—somewhat archaic in late-baroque terms—really suited the music. Whilst I would not take issue with Savall over the introduction of wind instruments, especially when they are so thoughtfully interspersed throughout the work, I feel that an ensemble based on the violin family brings out the expressive quality in the music more convincingly than a consort of viols; a case in point arises with the dance-like three-part mirror fugue (Contrapunctus inversus, XIII), which is played by viols alone and sounds a little angular. The Contrapunctus rectus, XIIIa, on the other hand, is given to cornett, oboe da caccia and sackbut and comes over well. But many listeners may think otherwise, so I would urge them to listen to this thoughtful performance. The mighty quadruple fugue played in the unfinished state in which Bach left it is very effectively treated with a marvellously sonorous quartet of wind instruments—bassoon, sackbut, oboe da caccia and cornett—presenting the first theme. Clear recorded sound, which enables you to pick out all strands of Bach's texture with ease, and an informative booklet in English, French and German. Well worth investigating.'