Search - J.S. Bach, Scherchen :: Art of the Fugue

Bach, in Transcription, and "Through a Glass Darkly"

Thomas F. Bertonneau | Oswego, NY United States | 10/11/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After performing and recording at least one other orchestral adaptation of Bach's "The Art of the Fugue," Hermann Scherchen (1891-1966) at last made his own transcription of that work and performed it with the CBC Chamber Orchestra, in a Toronto studio, in 1965; the concert was recorded for broadcast (we hear the announcer at beginning and end) and Tahra has released it. Anyone who has stumbled across my remarks on the recent Sony and Chandos releases of Bach transcriptions for orchestra will know that amplifications of the contrapuntal keyboard works appeal deeply to me - as I have confessed - in an atavistic way. So it's unsurprising (I'd guess) that Scherchen's adaptation of this greatest of all expressions of the fugal style should receive my high marks. Scherchen (let it be said) certainly does not follow the path taken by an older generation of Bach-arrangers; he avoids romantic excess and cultivates a rather spare style. There is thus no brass, but only strings and woodwind (with some support from harpsichord) in Scherchen's realization. Such a conception, however, addresses the music appropriately, and I would rate it above a strings-only or a string quartet version of the score. What's the point of arranging Bach's monochromatic polyphony, after all, if not to add color to it? But (this is how Scherchen saw it), not too much color. The tints must be subdued because there is something solemn, something sacred even, in this seemingly abstract exercise in pitting a single theme against itself in various combinations and permutations. The notes quote Scherchen as saying that all of music commences with "The Art of the Fugue," as though it were akin to the "word" that God breathed into the chaos at the beginning of time in order to make the world. Tahra actually distributed another Scherchen performance of "The Art of the Fugue," in Roger Vuataz's transcription, with Radio Beromünster, made in 1949. Vuataz's is a slightly richer version in terms of instrumentation and color. This, alas, is no longer available. But the Toronto version is. This is Bach seen "as through a glass darkly." And it's worth the investment."

The Master of Bach, and the love of his daughter

Damir Janigro | Cleveland Hts., OH USA | 04/18/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Master of Bach, and the love of his daughter



Maestro Scherchen was one of the greatest conductors of the twentieth century, and only because of a significant mismanagement by recording companies coupled by appearance and success of cookie-cutter conductors has his impressive discography been mostly unavailable. It is now thanks to his daughter's effort that his work is again available to the public. These remastered LP's are of excellent technical quality, not that I really care about these details but I know many do. It is the MUSIC that is unbelievable, though. Bach was not a control freak and his work has been rewritten and instrumented in many forms and shapes. This rendition of the Art of the Fugue is unique by all means: this is not the midsummer's dream of someone who wants to "play (giocare a) Bach" but the work of a true musical genius who spent years thinking and conducting, changing and improving, looking at every detail with passion and superb musicality. You will never hear an Art of Fugue like this! And thanks to Myriam Scherchen, you can now access many more of these true gems. I only wish his writings would also become available again, perhaps translated in English."