Re: GG: Die Kunst der Fuge (revisited)

[Bradley P Lehman <bpl@umich.edu>]

Flash!  A new recording leaps to the top of all lists!

On Fri, 16 Jul 1999, I wrote:

> > > And most important: Could someone  pleasse reccommend a "reference
> > > recording" of KdF?
> 
> On what instrument(s)?  There are so many recordings (30+) that have their
> own merits, so it depends what instrumentation you're looking for.
> Interpretations and tempos are all over the place.  
> 
> If I had to pick exactly one keyboard recording I'd perhaps choose Louis
> Bagger on harpsichord (Titanic)...the piece was most likely written for
> harpsichord, so let's hear it that way.  Bagger brings out the lines
> clearly with an easy flow, rather similarly to Charles Rosen on piano.  
> And for non-keyboard, Hesperion XX/Jordi Savall (Astree).  But it's so
> hard to choose.  On some other day I might feel like hearing one of the
> saxophone quartet recordings, or a different harpsichord recording, or
> organ, or piano, or brass, or two keyboards, or some other ensemble.  The
> early version (manuscript) of the piece as played by Robert Hill (or by
> Kenneth Gilbert) is also quite interesting.

As of this morning, the newest (1998) set by Robert Hill, Hanssler Edition
92.134 (#134 in their "complete Bach edition"), is now my desert-island
reference recording of choice.  Furthermore, it's complete, with all the
important alternate versions.  The most divergent readings from the
autograph version are at the end of the second disc and can be programmed
into sequence.  (Or one can buy Hill's own superlative recording of the
earlier version on Music & Arts...a somewhat looser, more improvisatory
performance than this one.)

In tempo it's between my other two harpsichord favorites: generally more
deliberate than Bagger, faster than Leonhardt (dhm).  Hill catches that
difficult balance point where the lines flow easily but the detail isn't
lost to speed.  I also get the sense that he's actually listening to his
own sound and enjoying it while playing, rather than imposing a
generalized interpretation from outside the instrument.

This recording comes about the closest to projecting pure thought of any:
no distracting color changes, arbitrary tempo shifts, or "hard sell" of
trying to make something of music which is already plenty intense on its
own.  At the same time, the physicality of gesture isn't slighted either,
and the rhythmic profile is vital.  There's none of the rhythmic mush that
is endemic to the piano and organ; everything in the texture is clear and
plain without becoming too motoric.

Hill plays the entire piece on one registration (2x8 on an Italian-style
harpsichord built in 1998 by his brother, Keith Hill): no artificial or
arbitrary choices trying to make more contrast than is necessary between
the music (Bach's writing gives that contrast on its own for a listener
who truly knows the piece).  A second harpsichord played by Michael
Beringer joins Hill in the mirror fugues (12a, 12b, 13a, 13b) and in the
two-harpsichord arrangements by Bach (18a, 18b) which add a free voice to
the three-voiced mirror fugues. The mirror fugues (12 & 13) are also just
barely playable by a single player rather than using two instruments, but
the musical flow is easier with two players, so I think Hill's choice to
use two players is fine.

In short, this recording is the closest thing I've ever heard to the way I
play the KdF myself (almost identical tempos, similar registrational
restriction to one or two 8's), except for doing the mirror pieces with
two players, and with a few more ornaments than I usually play.  It also
matches the way I hear and analyze the piece in my head when not playing:
pure music not tied to any instrument.  (Who was it who said that
admiration is by definition the appreciation of how another resembles
oneself?)  The harpsichord is here a neutral medium for hearing the
composition.

At the same time I'm not going to throw out all the other recordings.  
They bring different insights to the pieces, and it's stimulating to hear
things one might not have thought of or noticed oneself.  This also might
not be the best beginner's set, as someone not thoroughly acquainted with
the piece (from *playing* it, not just listening to it or analyzing it)
might find it monochromatic.  Hill's interpretive and instrumental choices
don't hype up the music; they allow Bach's compositional quality to come
through without distraction.

But if I'm forced to choose just one for reference and enjoyment, this new
set by Robert Hill is now the one.  Plus it's almost two hours of a Keith
Hill harpsichord in excellent sound...doesn't get much better than this.

Bradley Lehman ~ http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/ 
Dayton, VA, USA ~ 38.43N+78.98W

"Music must cause fire to flare up from the spirit - and not only 
sparks from the clavier...." - Alfred Cortot