JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Die Kunst der Fuge
Fabio Bonizzoni Mariko Uchimura
GCD P31510
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Performing artists
Fabio Bonizzoni, harpsichord Mariko Uchimura, harpsichord (tracks 13-17)
Production details
Total playing time: 63:32 Recorded in Bunnik, Netherlands, 09/2008 Engineered by Adriaan Verstijnen Produced by Tini Mathot Executive producer: Carlos Céster Design: Valentín Iglesias Booklet texts: F. Bonizzoni, A. Hartinger English-Français-Deutsch-Español
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JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)
Die Kunst der Fuge (BWV 1080, after P200)
One keyboard 1 Contrapunctus 1 2 Contrapunctus 2 3 Contrapunctus 3 4 Contrapunctus 4 5 Contrapunctus 5 [alla Duodecima] 6 Contrapunctus 67 Contrapunctus 7 [in Stylo Francese] 8 Contrapunctus 8 [per Augment et Diminut] 9 Canon in Hypodiapason 10 Contrapunctus 10 11 Contrapunctus 11 12 Canon al roverscio et per augmentationem
Two keyboards 13 Contrapunctus 13 [recto] 14 Contrapunctus 13 [inversus] 15 Contrapunctus 14 [recto] 16 Contrapunctus 14 [inversus]
Appendix 17 Fuga a tre soggetti
About this CD
The fact that Bach may have been working on Die Kunst der Fuge up until the point that he died and the fact that the work’s concluding contrapunctus may have been left incomplete are just two factors which have subsequently allowed posterity’s imagination to operate in full flight. When Bach passed away, without further delay his sons busied themselves preparing this score work for printing and were the first in nurturing the legend that Bach, incapable of completing the final contrapunctus, dictated a four-part chorale on his deathbed in order to compensate for the abrupt end and as a way of saying farewell... In any case, what we are left with is a unique composition which for a great deal of time has been considered as a purely theoretical exercise and one which was not intended to be performed. Nowadays, however, many experts think otherwise and among them is Fabio Bonizzoni, who is convinced that this is music written for a keyboard instrument, and very likely for a harpsichord. Our musician has opted with his recording for the structure of Bach’s first autograph version, the so-called P200 manuscript, making use thereby of an additional harpsichord for four of the contrapuncti, something which was suggested by Bach himself in that manuscript.
Bonizzoni, whose artistry is currently particularly being appreciated on account of his memorable series of recordings of Handel’s Italian cantatas, presents with this album one of his own most personal projects; but one which also acts as a punctuation point prior to Bonizzoni embarking upon a new set of adventures with his ensemble La Risonanza.
Fabio Bonizzoni’s attention on record to the music of Handel - which has, thus far, yielded seven discs devoted to the early Italian-texted cantatas - has just now had the good fortune to receive this year’s Stanley Sadie Handel Recording Prize for Apollo e Dafne, the final release in the present series for Glossa. This is the third time that Bonizzoni and his period-instrument ensemble La Risonanza have won this prestigious prize for their series of “Le Cantate Italiane di Handel” (previous winners were the first release, Le Cantate per il Cardinal Pamphili and the fifth, Clori, Tirsi e Fileno); three other recordings have also featured as runners-up. [read more...]
In the third instalment in Fabio Bonizzoni’s survey of the secular cantatas with instrumental accompaniment composed by Georg Frideric Handel during his stay in Italy, come a quartet of works associated with the Venice-born maecenas Pietro Ottoboni – including the substantial Ero e Leandro, the libretto for which is plausibly considered to have been written by the Cardinal Ottoboni himself. As well as the seldom-performed cantata for bass, Spande ancora a mio dispetto and Ah! Crudel, nel pianto mio scored for soprano solo, Bonizzoni also directs the Spanish-texted No se emendará jamás.[read more...]