Bach-Malloch: The Art Of Fuging [Import]

On this CD:

1. Die Kunst der Fuge (Art of the Fugue), BWV 1080
Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performed by Sheffield Ensemble
Conducted by Lukas Foss, Douglas Neslund

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Musicologist William Malloch approaches Bach's hallowed valedictory opus with affectionate irreverence. His peppery orchestrations chop up and toss the counterpoint into a crazy salad of orchestral invention. Percussion effects are liberally sprinkled throughout, from wispy castanets to full blown disco handclaps. Malloch also takes kooky compositional liberties. Contrapunctus #9, for instance, strays through Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Mozart, and Shostakovich without missing a beat. The final, unfinished movement dematerializes into dissonant haze as the musicians fugue away into the sunset. The performances bustle with zest, and do full justice to Malloch's ingenious arrangements. Or should one say "de-rangements?." --Jed Distler

Tracks:

Andante risoluto e sostenuto
Andante con moto
Allegretto
Allegro non troppo
Allegro energico
Allegretto piacevole
Allegro marcato
Allegro molto
Misterioso
Allegro spagnolo
Andante amorvolmente
Grave (Entrada)
Allegro espringale, pt. 1
Allegro espringale, pt. 2
Allegro espringale, pt. 3
Grave (Uscita)
Allegro risoluto
Allegro moderato e dolcemente
Allegro animato
Andante risoluto e sostenuto
Chor: Vor Deinen Thron tret ich hiermit - THE SHEFFIELD ENS/CALIFORNIA BOYS CHOR

Amazon.com

Musicologist William Malloch approaches Bach's hallowed valedictory opus with affectionate irreverence. His peppery orchestrations chop up and toss the counterpoint into a crazy salad of orchestral invention. Percussion effects are liberally sprinkled throughout, from wispy castanets to full blown disco handclaps. Malloch also takes kooky compositional liberties. Contrapunctus #9, for instance, strays through Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Mozart, and Shostakovich without missing a beat. The final, unfinished movement dematerializes into dissonant haze as the musicians fugue away into the sunset. The performances bustle with zest, and do full justice to Malloch's ingenious arrangements. Or should one say "de-rangements?." --Jed Distler

Customer Reviews:

Incorrigibly playful!.......2006-10-14

The Art of Fugue (Die Kunst der Fuge) was a certain collection of works Bach (probably) wrote throughout his life, which he began to put into finished form towards the end of his life. There are others: The Well-Tempered Clavier, the B minor Mass, the Brandenburg Concerti, and so forth. The Art of Fugue consists of fugues, all developed in almost unimaginable complexity, but which sound beautiful and exciting far beyond what one would expect because of their contrapuntal density.

He never specified instrumentation for the fugues. It has been considered by many that the music is "abstract", either not meant to be played at all (a discredited theory, to say the least) or played on a keyboard, i.e. piano or organ. To our great fortune, many performers have chosen to perform the pieces with an orchestra, which requires a certain degree of active orchestration. Some excellent versions are by Neville Marrinner and the Academy of St Martin In the Fields (Phillips), Glenn Gould (Sony), and the much-lauded recording by Scherchen (which I have not heard).

The Malloch-Foss recording is actually a version, by Malloch. Many of the fugues have been recomposed, and the great unfinished 14th contrapunctus (read up on these things; this is not the place to talk about the Art of Fugue itself in detail :) had been finished. In additional, the orchestration is very, very colorful. Bach fans who prefer the music to speak for itself will be outraged. But other Bach fans, who firmly believe that Bach cannot be destroyed (easily) will be absolutely delighted.

One hears how *modern* Bach is, even if the harmonies of Bach don't venture in the realms made familiar by Chopin, Wagner, and such folks. But the emotions I feel hearing The Art of Fuguing are significantly more extreme, sometimes distinctly different, than those I feel with listening to the original notes (e.g. in Marriner, a pleasantly neutral performance).

The Art of Fuguing is incorrigibly playful. It is meant to be played at full volume out your windows. It is joyous music, even if it is not just Bach's notes that one is hearing, but those notes reprocessed by the fevered brain of Malloch.

Arch

This is a favorable choice for audiophile enthusiast & Bach!.......2005-03-07

I would not go so far as to say I could live without it, but I could try. I recommend a decent set of earspeakers and a dimmer switch for your lights. This music will take you far. Don't worry.. you will return! The only other version of the fugue I own is a Collins Classics release done by Nancarrow. I would highly recommend getting that one as well. Enjoy! Ciao!

"The Old Geezer's Guide to the Fugue." :-).......2003-09-07

Forgive me my double sin against both Johann Sebastian Bach and Sir Benjamin Britten. But this brief description was simply too good to pass up. Chalk it up to a minor epiphany visited upon me as I listened to this work (yet again) while my mind was spectacularly unoccupied and in "free association."

Bach's "Die Kunst der Fuge" (The Art of Fugue) was his final major work, left unfinished at his death in 1750. For more than 250 years (well, at least since Felix Mendelssohn's successful efforts at reviving interest in the music of Bach some 100 years after Bach's death), "The Art of Fugue" has been an enigmatic challenge to composers, musicians and musicological researchers, as the work is barely fleshed out, and not orchestrated, nor is any indication of performing force(s) given. As a result, it exists today (aside from the original manuscript sketches) in various guises: as a keyboard work (for piano, for harpsichord, and for two harpsichords), as a realization for string quartet, and, in various arrangements, as an orchestral work, both with and without keyboard continuo (harpsichord or organ). One such orchestral arrangement, by Karl Munchinger, concludes with the chorale "Vor Deinem Thron" (an approach whose aptness was not lost on William Malloch, the creator of "The Art of Fuguing").

The everlasting significance of this final Bach work transcends its immediate impact on those in the music community. One of my favorite quotes regarding its importance was made quite some time back by Lewis Thomas, the great medical scientist/essayist, who offered that a "National Institute of Music" be established, with a very limited mission and a modest budget, to field a narrow question: "Why is 'The Art of Fugue' so important and what does this single piece of music do to the human mind?" Indeed! And what this single piece of music did to the human mind of William Malloch was to encourage him to create a work of sheer joy, starting from Bach's original manuscript.

Malloch (1927 - 1996) was probably best know to west coast Americans as the longtime music director of the Los Angeles Pacifica Radio station, KPFK. To this particular east coast American, he is best known for his musicological work on behalf of Gustav Mahler. (Malloch had been, for many years, the music director of the Mahler Society of California, in addition to his radio duties and his work as composer/musicologist.) But, with posterity now all that is left working on his behalf, he might well be remembered in the long term as the creator of this "realization" of Bach's final work, "The Art of Fuguing."

Malloch saw in Bach's contrapuntal writing of "Die Kunst der Fuge" something that no one prior to him apparently did. (Such prior realizations of "Die Kunst der Fuge" were, as he describes them, "doughty.") He saw the musical line of the work in prophetic terms, where to his mind Bach seemingly anticipated the music of the future, from Beethoven and Mozart to Wagner and beyond. It was these "prophetic" features that he chose to emphasize in his "The Art of Fuguing" realization, scored for chamber orchestra having very unusual instrumentation for such "raw material": piccolos and alto flutes, as well as English horns, in addition to the usual Baroque woodwinds, a battery of percussion in addition to the usual timpani, and a keyboard continuo of piano and celeste, all to go along with more conventional strings and woodwinds.

These "extra" instruments make their presence known soon enough, when, in an early variation, Malloch uses the timpani in much the same manner as did Britten in his famous variations on a Purcell tune, "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra." (Now the explanation for my modestly witty epiphany is made perhaps clearer.) Matters go further afield as we hear phrasing (and orchestration) in later variations that suggest Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Wagner, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and even Khatchaturian, Shostakovich and Shchedrin. Yet, throughout, the underlying themes and contrapuntal variations remain solidly rooted in the Bach original. Things DO get a little zany just prior to the final chorale, when the orchestra seems to take a short time out to tune up. But matters are then straightened out, with a boy choir intoning the concluding chorale for a perfect "cap" on the work.

Lukas Foss (the composer) leads the Sheffield Ensemble (likely a west coast pick-up ensemble) and the California Boy's Choir in a performance that must be considered definitive. (As far as I know, Malloch's realization has not been recorded by any other forces.) The album, now about 25 years old, and a certifiable collector's item, originally appeared on the Sheffield Labs audiophile label as a pair of LPs which I believe were "direct-to-disk" (a standard Sheffield Labs practice at the time). This digital remastering to CD dates to 1995, but the booklet notes do not state what the original source material was, i.e., whether Sheffield Labs used the original direct-to-disk lacquers or analogue or early digital tape masters. But the mastering is well-done, with fine sound, and the CD is part of the "Sheffield Gold" series (with the reflective CD layer being gold, rather than aluminum). The booklet notes include an extensive in-depth essay by Malloch that appears to have been photoreduced from larger originals used in the 2-LP set. The type is very small, causing this particular old geezer to pull out a strong pair of reading glasses.

Well, old geezer or not, I find this to be a splendid modern-day setting of a sublime piece of western art, and a thing of fun and joy to listen to. It may be difficult to find; but it's worth your effort.

Bob Zeidler

Real Music Making.......2002-11-27

Being a fan of Bach and a zealous proponont of Bach arrangements, I was delighted when I spotted this disc in a bargain bin for [money]! Had I known how wonderful these arrangements were I would have paid full price for them on Amazon[.com] a long time ago. The Bach-Malloch moniker is quite apt. This is a new piece by Malloch based on Die Kunst Der Fuge. Every moment is rich with joyous music making. Complicated rhythmic structures provided by the percussion underlie many of the arrangements, colorful orchestrations, and inventive additions to the counterpoints make this piece a must have for any Bach junkie. Malloch has done for Bach what Ravel did for Mussorgsky. I am also a fan of Lukas Foss, the conductor, whose works are worthy of repeated listenings. Check out his "Phorion", a deconstructed version of a Bach Sarabande, coupled with his seminal piece "Time Cycle".

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