Re: GG: Art of Fugue

["John P. Hill" <jphill@frank.mtsu.edu>]

Re:  Art of Fugue

It's such a great piece.  Thanks to Bradley for the 6-pack recommendation;
lots of stuff to audition there.

I would add to this list the double CD set by pianist Evgeni Koroliov
on the small German label TACET.  I have the feeling that GG might have
liked this one; its kind of spare, and very musical.  Koroliov's 
interpretation realizes the essential introspective character that seems
to pervade this work.  From a production point of view, this is one of
my favorite solo piano CDs.  The primary pick-up used in a pair of vintage
Neumann M49 tube mics.  The sound is full, kind of dark and BIG.  The
spatial perspective is also a bit on the dry side, which GG would probably
have loved.

This CD will not be easy to find, but it can be ordered from:
Audio Advancements, P.O. Box 100, Lincoln Park, NJ 07035.
Phone: (201) 633-1151.  IMHO, its worth the extra cost and trouble.

Re:  Gould and The Art of Fugue
I've often wondered why GG never realized a complete set.  He obviously
adored this work and its strange that the only commercial release was
an incomplete organ set from the early 60s.  Incidentally, GG plays the
entire first Contrapunctus on piano (at his summer place on Lake Simcoe) 
on the CBC Documentary "Glenn Gould:  Off the Record".  Its a wonderful
performance, albeit in mono with all the distortion and wow & flutter
inherent in film transfered to videotape transfered to...

Re:  Art of Fugue as a Harpsichord Work
Hmmmm.  I've never played the work on harpsichord, but I had been under
the impression that AOF was essentially a *compositional* treatise and
was not intended as an instrument-specific work.  Although clearly
performable on keyboard instruments, I'm wondering about specific evidence
that the work was intended to be played on the harpsichord.

jh