Est 1923

Bach Fugues (arranged for string quartet)

Perfect playing, superb sound – but Bach shouldn’t be this well tempered

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach

Genre:

Chamber

Label: Deutsche Grammophon

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 0

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: 4777458

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: C, BWV846 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: D, BWV850 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: F minor, BWV857 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: F sharp minor, BWV859 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: G minor, BWV861 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: A flat, BWV862 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: G sharp minor, BWV863 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: A minor, BWV865 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: B, BWV868 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: B minor, BWV869 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: C minor, BWV871 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: D, BWV874 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: E flat, BWV876 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: D sharp minor, BWV877 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: E, BWV878 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: G minor, BWV885 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: A flat, BWV886 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: B flat minor, BWV891 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: B, BWV892 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: C sharp minor, BWV849 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: B flat minor, BWV867 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Emerson Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
A fugue is not a form but rather a texture that encompasses simultaneous musical lines. Ideally the lines ought to interact, converse, even argue as they tell their many stories over the course of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. One would think that this work’s four- and five-voice fugues would gain new dimensions of clarity and colour in the hands of a string quartet or quintet. Not so with the Emerson Quartet. To be sure, ensemble precision and top-to-bottom uniformity are never in doubt. Tempi are animated without spilling over into aggressive overdrive. Articulation and phrasing of subject/answer sequences match with clone-like accuracy. Yet where’s the character, where are the internal contrasts and textural variety, where is the harmonic awareness? Where’s the intensity and sense of build in the Book 2 D major fugue’s stretto, or that magical, poignant crack in the austere exterior when the music briefly assumes a minor key? In the Book 2 Fugue No 22, why is the gut-wrenching chromatic movement supressed, rather than underlined in red Glenn Gouldian ink? And if you’ve wondered how the Book 1 C major Fugue might sound with Bach’s notes intact but in the style of Mendelssohn, here’s your chance to find out, complete with the pedal-point coda’s uplifting majesty reduced to pleasantries. Sonically speaking, the Emersons have never sounded better on disc, yet there’s more to this music than their beautiful, world-class playing lets on

Bach Fugues (arranged for string quartet)

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: C, BWV846

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: D, BWV850

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: F minor, BWV857

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: F sharp minor, BWV859

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: G minor, BWV861

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: A flat, BWV862

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: G sharp minor, BWV863

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: A minor, BWV865

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: B, BWV868

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: B minor, BWV869

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: C minor, BWV871

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: D, BWV874

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: E flat, BWV876

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: D sharp minor, BWV877

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: E, BWV878

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: G minor, BWV885

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: A flat, BWV886

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: B flat minor, BWV891

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: B, BWV892

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: C sharp minor, BWV849

(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: B flat minor, BWV867

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