Gustav Leonhardt made this recording of Bach's Art of Fugue 40 years ago. He was then 25 years old and I mention the fact because this playing already has a technical and intellectual authority which has since become a hallmark of Leonhardt's musicianship. His concept of Bach's colossal contrapuntal masterpiece is fully developed and musically argued with clarity and deliberation. Perhaps there is a little too much of the latter in this earlier of two solo harpsichord versions of The Art of Fugue I which Leonhardt has recorded. There is, for instance, a greater rhythmic flexibility in the 1969 version which he made for Deutsche Harmonia Mundi and which is at present available at mid-price. And, as we might expect there are other differences, too, though these concern details rather than any drastic rethinking of a concept in its broad outlines. Among those which will affect the listener most are differences in the playing order of some of the movements between the two versions. In the earlier Vanguard recording Leonhardt intersperses the sequence of Contrapuncti with Canons whereas in the later recording the Contrapuncti are presented in an uninterrupted group, followed by the four Canons. Of greater significance, though, is the inclusion in the older set of the unfinished ''Fuga a 3 Soggetti'' (Contrapunctus XIX), which Leonhardt dropped in his later version when, as he said himself, he had decided that neither this nor the concluding chorale of the printed text of The Art of Fugue had anything to do with the work. Some readers, like me, will welcome the inclusion of the 'unfinished' fugue (Contrapunctus XIV) if only for the heightened emotional intensity it generates at the end of the work of such magnitude and written in the closing years of Bach's life. The chorale prelude Wenn wir in hochsten Noten sein (BWV668a) was never part of Bach's scheme and is omitted by Leonhardt in both recordings.
In the Vanguard recording Leonhardt chooses effective tempos, as indeed he does in the subsequent one. These, together with a stricter rhythmic pulse than m the later version serve to underline the contrapuntal discipline of the music, but the mirror-fugues with dance rhythms (CD2, tracks 7 and 8) fare less well and are more persuasive in the later recording with their suppler rhythmic pulse. At other times, pieces such as the ''Canon alla ottava'' suffer from the restricted resonances in the upper register of the harpsichord itself, by Neupert. In spite of little shortcomings, however, I found this recording both fascinating and, up to a point, satisfying too, the ''Canon per augmentationem in contrario Motu'' is superbly done and, unlike much else here, significantly brisker than Leonhardt's later tempo for the same piece. It is very enterprising of Seymour Solomon to reactivate a strong back-catalogue for which he himself was largely responsible and I hope he will be encouraged to give us some more. Meanwhile this release, skilfully transferred from LP to CD can be warmly recommended.'