Re: Art of the Fugue Vid

["Baldwin, Daniel" <baldwin@BAERMARKS.COM>]

That video is one of my favorites, as well. GG's performance of the E major
fugue from Bk 2 is incredibly moving, as is his perf of the triple fugue
from Art of Fugue. His playing has a quality of repose that he seemed to
have achieved only toward the end of his life; it is also present in the '81
Goldbergs, Beethoven's Pastoral sonata (recorded '79), and on a perf. of
Bach's "Sonata (Concerto?) after Albinoni"  (recorded betw. '79-81?)on the
so-called "Italian" album; the slow movement, in particular, has an air of
resigned wisdom.  It is performances like these that make me mourn his
premature death all the more, and to speculate about what "might have bee"
had he been able to make more recordings in this later mode.

-----Original Message-----
From: John Hill [mailto:jphill@HOME.COM]
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2000 4:04 PM
To: F_MINOR@EMAIL.RUTGERS.EDU
Subject: Art of the Fugue Vid


Jim Morrison wrote:

> Anybody ever see the video An Art of the Fugue?

Yes!  I really enjoy it.  If amazon still has it for $9.99 everybody
on the list really should procure a copy.

What amazes me is the absolutely facile and flawless connection
between GG's musical thought and the sounds which come out
of CD318.  It's as if there is *no physical barrier* whatsoever
between the concept of what he wants to do and the amazing
sounds that result.  His ability to give a coherent mini-lecture
while playing this very complex contrapuntal music flawlessly
soto voce just blows me away!  Makes me want to practice
more *and* give up all at the same time...

Also of note is his amazing ability to realize two very independent
voices within one hand, where he could easily split it up and use
two.  The voices sound *completely* independent and uncompromised,
even with detache (non-legato) articulation.

> In it GG quotes a funny passage from Schweitzer on the stillness of Art of
> Fugue.

Yes, there is something in there about infinite shadings of gray within
a monochrome world, or something to that effect.  During that dialog
he is playing through part of the last triple fugue and mentioning that
some of the chord colors Bach creates could almost come from something
by Schoenberg a century and a half later!  It's a great lecture-demo
and I wish he and Bruno could have done many more of these films.

cheers,
jh